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The moon asks to stay
long enough to allow
the clouds to make me fly away
Maybe I'm just a fool who deceives himself. And the memory often takes me to that slice of paradise swallowed by the murky waters of the Mississippi. I've sought those emotions in the most disparate places and sounds, between momentary highs and bitter disappointments, never truly finding them. But sometimes I came so close that I almost managed to grasp them. This is the case with this passing stranger, Scott Matthews, not to be confused with the almost namesake Australian singer-songwriter lacking the final “s”.
A bare guitar as a travel companion and a vocal timbre with the warmth of a hug. His singing that stirs and climbs on elusive melodies, elusive. Compositions as fleeting as daydreams, revealing the microcosm of the soul and telling the sweetness of suffering.
It’s that placid rural folk that gets under your skin, because it lives of simplicity without ever being banal. And it struggles between electro-acoustic minimalism and elegant arrangements, sometimes seasoned by the timbral games of tabla, sometimes by the delicate evolutions of wind instruments. Harmonies continuously balancing between light and shadow, between celestial arpeggios and unconventional tunings. It’s music that moves at the rhythm of the soul, that knows how to tarnish itself with the muddiest blues only to then give in to exotic temptations.
And we find ourselves wrapped by stretches of green, far from the urban headache, contemplating the sky and questioning the passage of time. Suspended in an unsteady balance of emotions. Sometimes you only feel at ease in the memory of the past, forgetting that happiness never looks back. Maybe what we're searching for is closer than we think. And it awaits us elsewhere.
You can say the sun is shining if you really want to
I see the moon and it looks so clear to me
You can take the road that leads to the stars
I'll take the road to understand myself
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
07 Passing Stranger (04:32)
See the sign up ahead it calls out your name,
It's a meaningful sign but it makes no sense.
Saw you pass on through with only one shoe,
and a mystified mind with an angel for a guide.
There's a destination that's meant for me,
but I'm weary of the soles of my innocent feet.
Like a single sight you know it's all you've got,
so be sure to aim true with your eyes in full view.
There's nobody you can accuse,
the mirror reflects a bold truth,
and from inside I feel bruised.
The mask that I wear is unsure,
unable to find a known cure,
so I hide for evermore.
I'm a passing stranger with a name I can't remember,
I'm going blind from the dust in my eyes.
And the ground back home seems so far away,
and I'm coughing up my lungs but I know I've gotta stay.
I'm moving slow with nowhere to go,
I stumble on a sign 'one mile to dine'.
It takes a little time, and I'm barely alive,
but I make it nontheless with a shortage of breath.
The coffee you poured me is cold,
the paper I'm reading is old,
and that smile is not your own.
The clothes that I wear are soaked through,
I'm all out of luck for you,
and there's a million things I can't do (can't do, I can't do)
Something strangely familiar about the way I am,
I'm sitting next to the man with the unsteady hands.
He says 'how are you son where you been all week',
I recognise his voice even in my sleep.
Lord only knows what I got up to,
maybe it's best for me if I just found my shoes.
And confirm my suspicions for heaven's sake,
and pick up my trail from my front gate.
There's nobody you can accuse,
the mirror portrays a bold truth.
and from inside it's what you do.
Start digging around and you'll find,
missing for years your own life,
you're better off trying not to hide (not to hide, trying not to hide).
13 Elusive (03:43)
She's a gambler spinning wheels,
A poison victim but look of steel.
The coldest hearts you've ever felt,
The coldest hands you've ever held.
Taking down, on your way.
A million miles, still no headway.
As I learn to live long,
In a mind I'm proud to roam.
She's elusive and I'm awake,
You're finally real, there's nothing fake.
A mystery now to me and you,
Open my eyes and I'm next to you.
She said my destiny lies in the hands that set me free.
A reckless night, she hears me breathe,
Cursing the sky at this company.
They lost the wisdom deep inside,
When bitterness shows it's side.
If it's true, I am doomed,
What more is there to hold on to?
A strand of her hair is all I own,
A gift to me, this sorry soul.
She's elusive and I'm awake,
You're finally real, there's nothing fake.
A mystery now to me and you,
Open my eyes and I'm next to you.
She said my destiny lies in the hands that set me free.
The sun in sails, and this ain't right.
There's more to her than meets the eye.
She comes and goes at any time,
Back in my head to another time.
She's elusive and I'm awake,
You're finally real, there's nothing fake.
A mystery now to me and you,
Open my eyes and I'm next to you.
She said my destiny lies in the hands that set me free
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