Ears are anvils (and I'll pound yours to scrap)

"You invite people to every show you have, but you never expect them all to actually show up..."

Ypsi singer/songwriter Matt Jones had a secret show last night inside Jim Roll's Backseat Studios... I was there with my sad-yet-noble digital recorder...but I won't have you suffer through its humble/shitty playback quality...



Flanked by the vibrant voice of Misty Lyn and the dynamic rhythm-saws and neck-taps of cellist Colette Alexander, Mr. Jones sung and strummed out a set that can only, quite unavoidably, be described as 'intimate...' what with its dangling christmas lights and the added air that we were witnessing some kind of steady unfurling, a blooming, an artist whose come to some profound re-realization, some rejuvenated muse...

The guy's falling in love with his songs again and he's putting out an album on March 1st -free, online - which will feature the full concert film produced/directed by Scott Allen, with Martin Thoburn, Adam Nelson and Doug Coombe...

Between self-deprecating banter suggesting that he'd already peaked on some fateful day back in 2007 when he wrote this song, this song and this song...all in one day, he charmed us with his cherubic chuckles and brow-drying head shakes that every song had some kind of mistake sutured somewhere between its spindly guitar plucks...

They even managed a cover of The High Strung song "Guilt Is How I'm Built," which was nice. But the most poignant moment came when he previewed the title track of his forthcoming album, airing the melodic confession:
"...there's something wrong in my mind / half-poison / half-pure... but not quite..."

"I know I should be having fun..." he sighs and chuckles after the third song... "and I'm so close..."
Slowly he started loosening up through the set...
"I definitely am (having fun) but it is very strange...but I'm liking it, I'm liking this a lot...

...and okay, moving on, this next song is called Jugulars, Bones & Blisters..."