Matt Barber
The Song Is You
(MB Records)
May 31, 2023
Reviewed by Tracy Adams
In vinyl parlance, if you were to drop the needle anywhere on this album, you would likely find yourself asking, “Who is this? I feel like I know this voice.” It is unlikely that you do, but Matt Barber’s voice and delivery immediately conjure the greats of the golden age of the Great American Songbook.
That does not mean that he engages in any kind of imitation. On the contrary, Barber is simply and naturally his own singer; his style just happens to be similar to some who have come before him. Whether he’s swinging or laying out a gentle ballad, his sound is both well-known and totally new.
Because of this, he manages to pull off one feat that is sometimes tricky: he includes a couple of tracks of more recent vintage, yet they seem as though they fully belong in the set. If Sinatra had recorded “Just the Way You Are” (Billy Joel), this is just the way he might have done it. This magic is aided by the arrangements that are sometimes lush, sometimes straightforward, but they’re always appropriate and they never getting in Barber’s way.
Nothing here enlightens you as a listener or introduces new thinking about an old chestnut, but every note is filled with a joy that is fresh and infectious.
