Sometimes you can just keep an album review short and sweet, and Same As I Ever Have Been, the second album by Canadian songwriter Matt Patershuk, is a case in point. For the most part, Patershuk establishes himself as a bluesy crooner with a gravelly voice, just like he did on his 2016 debut I Was So Fond Of You. But while that record was slightly uneven, Same As I Ever Have Been is a much more focussed affair, and that makes all the difference. Patershuk is accompanied here by a band of seasoned session pros and they give his songs that deceptive sense of nonchalance that belies their proficiency as instrumentalists. Like I said, this is above all else a blues record, and most songs follow the same template as opening track Sometimes You Gotta Do Bad Things To Do Good, which finds just the right balance between a relaxed groove and a more menacing undercurrent. Odd one out is the intriguingly titled Memory and The First Law Of Thermodynamics, a stark folk track that really grows on you after a few spins and eventually proves to be the album’s highlight.
Black Hen Music
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