photo: Peter Varshavsky
Mark Matos and Os Beaches' 2009 release "Words of the Knife," which came out on vinyl in June, hones creative fervor into sunshine grooves. Currently on tour, former Tucsonan Matos, guitarist and singer Ben Reisdorph, bassist Joe Lewis and drummer Joe Miller pair honey sweet sounds with happy lyrical introspection to make nine unhurried, charming and self-proclaimed "acid gospel" tracks.
Musically, "Words of the Knife" evokes a mid-double aughts faith in sound as spiritual vacation. Quirky notes of lap steel and organ pretty up the indolent guitar rhythm; hidden under the meticulous, unhurried arrangements is a mess of counterculture lyrical wonder.
From the marginal hero splitting hairs over his character flaws in Hired Hand to the glimmers of bone-dry wisdom on High Priest of the Mission, the album's lingua franca is the poetry of city streets where song and wanderlust meet headlong.
Matos' heritage shines strong on undercover title track Palavras de Faca, which means "Words of the Knife" in Portuguese. The song's vocal overlay of American flatness against romance-language lilt reinforces the powerfully vulnerable voice of a wowed, worldly anti-hero.
Jarring opening and closing notes on Tras-os-montes are a rarity, an appreciable one what aural paradise isn't without discord? For the most part, though, the harmonies jaunt from chord to cord at sip-your-cerveja-and-stare-at-the-sun pace.
Throughout the album, alternately haunting and carnival tones cast across the unseen art of seasoned musicians doing what they do. The Moving and I Come Broken especially showcase the flexibility of steel. With two muffled drumbeats, the release ends gentle and insistent as the roads, rural and urban, from which these songs draw their strength.
Label Portofranco Records describes the album as "Tucson-flavored pop songs meld[ed] with the sun-baked chords and beats of 60's Tropicalia, New York street poetry and California country-rock."
Frontman Matos' demystifies (or mystifies) "acid gospel" as follows: "Be fearless in our searching, even when it gets scary. Embrace 'I don't know,' step into the mystery. Except no guru, make yourself into a religion; pry your heart open with a crowbar, magical and golden. This is the Acid Gospel."
Definitions aside, listen after listen, the album is open-minded and unafraid, a deliberate walk in the sun even when life's shadows are never out of heart.
Mark Matos and Os Beaches play August 11, 9 pm at The Lost Leaf (915 N. 5th St, Phoenix). "Words of the Knife" is available on vinyl, CD and download at PortofrancoRecords.com or MarkMatoscom.
