The Tallest Man On Earth: Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird

Befitting a singer-songwriter who operates under an unwieldy, not-quite-boastful moniker, Kristian Matsson tends to sound a lot grander than a guy with an acoustic guitar should. On this year’s galvanizing The Wild Hunt, the second full-length Matsson has released as The Tallest Man On Earth, his pent-up, feisty vocals and revved-up guitar made his spirited, hopeful songs sing out with the power of a hard-charging bar band. A fine melodicist, Matsson quiets his fiery side on the Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird EP, but even when he’s going the delicately pretty route, his songs aspire to greater heights. On “The Dreamer,” Matsson straps on an electric guitar (a major curveball for him) and belts out the big, bear-hugging Britpop ballad the world has been missing since the height of Oasis. “Little River” and “Tangle In This Trampled Wheat” are more in line with TMOE’s usual fare, with Matsson’s gentle finger-picking dancing along with his sweetly caustic croon. The former finds him in the clouds and asking “let me fall to be of use”; actually, he sounds perfect right where he is.