Travis Matte’s 10th release, X, commemorates his cross over the river to zydeco.
Think of this one as a composite sketch of South Louisiana fare done in the muscular Matte party-down style with an occasional southern or metal-ish rock guitar solo thrown in for good measure. He mixes in the familiar, like basing “Country Girls” on “Jeunes Filles de la Campagne” with an interesting ringing tone to his accordion playing.
Lyrics are kept simple (“Mardi Gras Parade,” “Mary Go Round”) so they’re easily memorable during drunken sing alongs. Many tracks fall under a zyde-rock umbrella—but with exception, of course. The bouncy “Le Bon Boucherie” salutes the peppy, fat-bottomed, twin-fiddle sound of Aldus Roger and the Lafayette Playboys, while ”Pas Bon Femme” sounds Creole-esque with Matte’s driving, rural-sounding fiddling.
He maintains a good flow, sometimes downshifting from a rockin’ fast one into a soft-and-sensitive ballad, such as on “Too Good to Be True” and “Love Is a Lie,” the latter surrounded by a pretty arrangement of keys, fiddle and guitar. While the lyrics and sentiment are there, one can’t help but wonder if a little vocal dynamics would allow the tender songs to realize their full impact.
Still, it’s not meant to be totally serious, as evidenced by “Shave Yuh Monkey,” and relative to the rest of Matte-Kingpin discography, this one’s in there with no disappointments.