Matt Costa – Yellow Coat
Dangerbird Records – 11 September 2020
Yellow Coat, Matt Costa’s latest release exposes an artist working out his feelings – feelings about a ten-year relationship now over, recounting his feelings and exposing his heart. For some, the results would be a rather messy affair attempting to examine the ins and outs of things that simply weren’t meant to be. Yet for Costa, it’s an opportunity to reflect, document his feelings and search amidst the mess and wreckage for whatever truths that there are to be found.
The one thing that’s definitely not messy is the music. The opening track, Avenal, has the feeling of an old English folk song, something that you could hear Ralph McTell or Al Stewart might have picked out on their six strings. A breezy fingerpicked guitar theme sets the scene before Costa sings, “It’s alright cause tonight/ There’s a feather falling on my street/ There’s a glow of the lights/ Giving me hope that you’ll be by my side.” As an opening gambit about a relationship, it hits all the right chords, full of hope and wonder.
Running in what appears to be the actual order of events, Slow has the feel of an old Zombies tune, with Costa doing his best Colin Blunstone. The opening bass lick recalls Paul Arnold, while the piano and organ crank out emotion on the bridge. The lyrics make it clear just how right the moment is, “Oh if you wake me/ Won’t you please just take it slow/ Cause I don’t want this to go/ No I don’t want this to go.” This is classic pop for the modern age.
Not exactly a confessional, Last Love Song packs more emotion in two minutes and four seconds than seems humanly possible. With little more than a guitar, bass and some backing vocals, Costa fills the song with true emotion, “If I’d never seen your face/ Never known my other half/ I’d be half the man I have come to be/ You’re the reason why.” By song’s end, the heartstrings are sufficiently tugged. Originally meant as an anniversary gift, the song’s meaning changed over time, discovering the depths of the relationship.
One of the things that Costa proves with Yellow Coat is that not only does he know how to write a song, he understands its value. He doesn’t play to the crowd, his songs stay focused on the moment, whatever the cost. The truth must win out in the end. That he’s able to do that with a minimum of instruments keeps songs from feeling over baked. The final song, So I Say Goodbye ends up being fairly hopeful. There are indeed better days ahead. Costa is sure of that much.
Costa notes, “My songs have always been something that transcends a feeling into something that is healing.” With Yellow Coat he not only has survived the moments of sadness and despair, coming out on the other side, perhaps not fully invigorated, but ready to move on. The pain is ending and there are better days ahead.