Review Summary: Matthew Good? More like Matthew Superb!
Matthew Good has made a good album here. By that, I mean a lot of the songs are very good. The album as a whole is very good, dare I say, superb. What makes it so good is Good's good lyricism and songwriting. Whether he's singing a painfully good melody or playing some smooth, good chords, he's always good.
One of the most good songs on Good's
Hospital Music is "Born Losers." It's a bit catchy, in both its good lyrics and good guitar playing. Lyrically, the song is all about the not-so-good things that have happened to him as of late. Why aren't things good? Apparently Good was going through a divorce and dealing with the stress of that, along with an earlier miscarriage, coupled with this good-bad bipolarity cycle. He ended up overdosing, and admitted himself to a good hospital. Now he is doing some good work as both a musician and an advocate for improved mental health care. I watched his good Ted Talk about the difference between genius and mental illness.
Even though Good suffers from a psychological disorder, it's possible that it makes his music more good. With such variety in songs like Pink Floyd-inspired "Champions of Nothing," to the good, lax cover of Dead Kennedys' "Moon over Marin," Good has a natural talent for conveying his emotions. One line in the album stood out to me as particularly good: "This aching heart's been handed down, but I'm done with it," from "The Boy Come Home."
Amongst all the gems of this album, Good finds himself presenting a good political rant. "Black Helicopters" is a commentary about the modern perception of the good ol' war. Predictably, he does not find war good. Between the good acoustic guitar riff and good horns, Good lets off this powerful line over and over, "Only killers call killing progress." He even delivers a really good threat at one point: "You're gonna get what you deserve, and not a bullet less."
Even though this appears to be only a good attempt at using Good's name as a pun as many times as possible, the album has some true value. Some songs are catchier than others, but they all carry some very good lyrical and musical value upon multiple listens. "Odette" is a good example of song that is a grower. In the end, how good your experience with the album is depends on how much you want to invest yourself in it.
Hospital Music relies less on the good mid-tempo tracks that Good has traditionally written, and more on the quieter, calmer songs. Give it time, and you'll have a good time.
