Matt Charette & The Truer Sound from the album Lo-Fi High Hopes

Matt Charette & The Truer Sound from the album Lo-Fi High Hopes

Matt Charette & The Truer Sound from the album Lo-Fi High Hopes available as a self-release (by Brian Rock)
 
Matt Charette & The Truer Sound have hope up high for their second album, Lo-Fi High Hopes. Starting out in Boston’s boisterous Punk scene, Charette and the band have graduated to a more refined, Americana sound. Charette’s beefy voice and the band’s musical prowess combine to create a Chris Stapleton meets Willie Braun (Reckless Kelly) dynamic.
The lead track, “4X4”, comes roaring out of the gates with the ferocity of a Dropkick Murphy’s tune. Drums, guitars, and vocal hit you simultaneously as Charette sings ‘two blown speakers and four-wheel drive. Yeah, I’m leaning on my buddies just to stay alive’. Ending all debate about his suitability as a role model, Matt Charette unabashedly celebrates the joy of drinking and driving (kids, don’t try this at home!) He’s referring to back woods four wheeling; but the thrill seeking, just outside the law, mentality is clear. Not content to follow other people’s rules, he declares, ‘I won’t see you in church on Sunday but I’ll see you at the bar on Saturday night’. A manifesto of personal freedom, the song showcases the band’s desire to live and make music on their own terms.
“Go Down Swinging,” delivers that same message of autonomy with a melody that is softened by piano and Hamond organ chords. “Wrecking Ball” captures the fierce Alt Rock of The Cult. Again, pulsing Hammond organ helps drive the song as Charette recalls the feelings of the early days of Covid lockdown, when our everyday lives were demolished in an instant. Paying tribute to the jangly guitar interplay of Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, “Ontario,” is a feel-good tribute to a great lover from the Great White North. “Jess” is a Springsteen-esque ode to a friend who succumbed to drug addiction. Feeling her presence even now, Charette sings ‘we will never be the same. This old town never changes. We remember your name like a ghost from a long time ago’. Despite the tragic topic, the melody plays major chords in remembrance of the good times they once shared.
Matt Charette’s voice shifts from powerful to pleading as he turns to ballads. “Anywhere” is a steel guitar driven love song of devotion. When asked where he wants to be, Charette responds ‘there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than anywhere with you’. The weepy steel guitar gives hints of melancholy, but the soaring guitar and Hammond organ elevate the song to rapturous heights. “Everything” is a Bob Dylan-flavored contemplation of a relationship with unrealistic expectations; the pedal steel guitar mimicking the bittersweet sentiment of the lyrics. “Hard Way” examines the difficulties of sustaining relationships as Charette muses ‘if you let someone go and they come back to you, they say that is gold. But I ain’t mining for your love. And I ain’t searching for redemption above’. The love troubles continue on “Keeping Time”. Using a musical metaphor, Charette notes that lovers can’t make music together if they’re not on the same page. But even worse than a failed relationship is an uncertain relationship. “How It’s Gonna End” contemplates the possible bad endings that may lie ahead. Whether shedding tears of joy or tears of sorrow, the interplay of steel guitar and Hammond organ in the band’s ballads is sublime. Matt Charette & The Truer Sound deliver poignant and powerful songs of love, loss, and living free…. and there is no Truer Sound than that. (by Brian Rock)
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