Matell puts a new spin on some of your favourite classic pop and rock cuts with his new album Skull: Shadows — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
The multi-talented multi-tasking California artist’s latest release is an inspired set of cover tunes, exploring a wide variety of sonic and stylistic landscapes — everything from R&B and pop to EDM and house — as Matell toys with a premium playlist of timeless tracks by some of music’s biggest names.
Kicking off the album is a striking and surprisingly soulful EDM revamp of Crystal Gayle’s country-pop classic Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, followed by a funky retro-house verson of disco legend Andy Gibb’s Shadow Dancing. DJ Tremolo joins the party with a dance-floor remix of Matell’s own Honest Man, written for the his friend, the late pop star Aaron Carter, and his label Rakkaus Records.
The legendary Bobby Womack gets some well-deserved attention as Matell pays tribute to his gem I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much with a moody, mind-expanding slice of psychedelic soul and R&B. Similarly, Ashford & Simpson’s Is It Still Good To You is transformed into a darkly claustrophobic, haunting gem.
The most high-profile track on the LP has to be Matell’s update of Bob Dylan’s immortal number Forever Young, which he reworks with a smouldering R&B groove, whistling synthesizers and plaintive vocals. Dylan honoured Matell by ginving him permission to change the composition, something he has never allowed before.
Skull: Shadows closes with a trio of killers: A synth-funk take on Teddy Pendergrass’s Joy, a freewheeling, playful reinterpretation of the Marvin Hamlisch / Barbra Streisand standard The Way We Were, and a seductive spin through the Sylvester deep cut Do You Wanna Funk.
Matell has appeared as a featured performer in tribute to iconic jazz singer Nancy Wilson at the BMA Music Awards, and as a special guest at Minnie Foxx’s Los Angeles concert. He has been honored by VH1’s Save The Music and nominated for Song Of The Year as a lyricist for We Will Survive. Matell was also nominated for the Best Editor’s Choice Award for Outstanding Writing for Eastern Trees by the American Poetry Society.
Check out Skull: Shadows HERE, and follow Matell on Facebook.
