Culture

Self Released
(2.5/5)

With the Matadors' opening moments of unconstrained leads and tasteful guitar fuzz you can’t help but reminisce on the ear-bleeding country of grunge-era Dinosaur Jr. Opening track ‘The Ballad of Cobh’ not only shines above the rest with valid hooks and a relaxed groove but in its succinct performance, the shortest soundbite in The Mansion Tapes. Confused and slightly taken aback by the vocal/feel transition that followed, I continued on to ‘Somebody’s Living’ in which a pleasingly grinding chorus, accompanied by infectious “Wo-hoo-hoos,” propels a solid track. ‘Amsterdam’ came across strongly, a return to a singer with strength. Unfortunately, this is not ‘Hotel California’ and multiple guitar solos for every verse cannot be condoned. In a similar vain, ‘Jesus Child’ contained so much extraneous content that the overall wealth of the song was damaged. This release tries valiantly to win over the listener but in reflection its attempts at lengthy anthems may be challenging for anyone without an attraction to their unique genre mix of country rock and Genesis-styled ‘80s pop. In this first release listeners will get a well-rounded, strongly competent taste of a fresh new Dunedin group.