Tensheds is the name under which singer songwriter Matt Millership goes. A classically trained pianist, he now makes a living as a musical troubadour. ‘Crazy Beautiful’ is his second album, and follows his ‘Save The Album’ E.P.
Opening track ‘Go Out On The Weekend’ is a haunting piano ballad which suits Tensheds somewhat gravelly voice. A lovely song with evocative lyrics all about love and how it feels:“Go out on the weekend, See my baby, she’s haunting me.” And: -“Count down the time, until I see her, when These emotions start to stir and my heart will race again”.
I thought that this was an excellent start, despite a slight melodic resemblance to, dare I say it? ‘I can’t stop loving you’ by Leo Sayer. However, Tensheds’ vocals carry this through.
‘Angel Of London’ adopts a lazier, laid back groove, featuring organ, electric guitar and some really bluesy sax. Again the vocals are a high point, being reflective and poetic: “Maybe I’m crazy, for loving you, Maybe I’m some kind of fool/ Angel of London, you came my way, to rescue me”.
‘Sentimental Streets’ enters a slightly different territory, being a folk based song with some country guitar, there was a slight Bob Dylan feel to this one, again with some good lyrics: -
“Ever seen the stars fall out of the night, ever seen the moon that refuses to shine bright.”/ “Said, I’m lost on sentimental streets”.
‘Stains’ is another haunting piano ballad, a lament to a love that’s been lost: “Changing places I stand beneath you, hopelessly floating”.
‘City of Dreams’ is a piano-based country boogie romp, which bounces along effervescently. ‘Road Movie’ which follows is another highpoint, being a Tom Waits style piano ballad, which seems to be all about how life can really grind you down: “If I was governed by roads, and my shadow stolen by such fools/ I would tell my soul not to show up tonight, It aint worth it/ It aint worth putting up a fight”.
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‘Love The One You’re With’, not the Stephen Stills song, is a guitar country ballad, which works well, as Tensheds duets with Aurora Schmidt to produce another really good track: “Stand by the one you love. Don’t let her slip out of your life, and out of your hands just like grains of sand. That don’t come easy”.
Whilst there are no really bad tracks on the album, I was pleased to find a consistent standard throughout, something that you don’t get with a lot of performers.
Two tracks that really made it for me on the album were ‘Flying Cars’, which tips a nod to Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’ and has some really great (depressing) lyrics: “Rain falls on my window, in this crummy hotel room, over Leicester Square/ I could think of a million places I’d rather be. But you’re not there”. The character in this song seems to be offered no redemption, just an endless grind: “Working late in this suicide rat race, to please the man with the iron face”.
The album ends with ‘Paradise’, a slow mournful ballad, which is about a road traffic accident. The lyrics here really tug the heartstrings: - “A child stumbles, ice-cream cones on the floor, it’s the end of the world/ Just another day in paradise, another civilian down/ Flowers on the fences in this merry-go-round”.
I have to say I really enjoyed this album, it was interesting, thought provoking, and very listenable. On the strength of this, I will be looking at his earlier work.
Tensheds online
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