Mathis Hunter - Countryman

Label: self released
Year: 2017

Sometimes your friends are doing shit that blows you away, and you kinda take it for granted cause they're your friends and you just sorta feel like, "yeah, well, that's what (s)he does".
Mathis Hunter is one of those friends.
Over the years he's been in the mix of a constantly evolving musical cadre of folks who all graduated from the all ages punk and hardcore scene, kept plugging away at what they love, and continue to pursue the sounds that make them excited. At some point you realize, "these dudes turned into really good songwriters".
Mathis Hunter has put out his first "solo" album in 2010, which was a psych rock homage to his favorite early 90's British bands, and the straight up rock that informed them. This time around, seven years later (but with a band or two in between), he's taking a more circuitous route to the rock. One that gets it's start balancing out the glam stomp of T Rex and barroom swagger of Faces with the fractured art rock of "Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)" Brian Eno. From there he slides through some southern Edgar Winter Group swamp boogie before dropping back in on old British favorites Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and Primal Scream. And then, and I don't know if he meant to or not, but then it sounds to me like some of the Replacements-driven early Wilco creeps in, Something distinctly American and laid back.
You'll hear it. The familiar sounds underpinning something that harkens back to a few different pockets of your record collection. Feels good.
If the Uriah Heep cum Hydra cover doesn't clue you in, then, it's a safe bet you should tune out. This one may not be for you. But, if you're down to get down, you want to be loose, then this one will do it for you.

DL