The Sigla Blog

Matt Lunson
Miss Vaughan ****

It might seem strange that a Tasmanian singer songwriter might up sticks to Ireland. The Irish music scene, for all its diversity, has never suffered an absence of one man and his guitar. Perhaps it has something to do with the aptly titled ‘Not Quite Right’ but it’s clear from listening to his debut, Miss Vaughan that Matt Lunson is in fine fettle. What differentiates Lunson is the same thing that elevates acts like Jape and Jeff Martin from the glut of solo performers clogging up the Irish music scene, merging into one generic blob of melancholy chords and predictable lyrics. Most of the time, all three employ a full band and this extracts any tendency towards sounding like a bummed out busker. With Lunson, the result sounds like Radiohead ditching their amps, a pensive mix of everyday confessions over genuinely well-crafted tunes. Therefore, the references are what you might expect: ‘Thirty One’, is the perfect quarter-life-crisis reflection on mortality and boasts the kind of parched angst Elliot Smith would be proud of. The first single, ‘Softly Spoken Boy’ parallels the similarly talented but incredulously under-rated David Mead and Lunson is a gifted songwriter with something to say that’s worth listening to.

Info: www.mattlunson.com