My buddy Kiley Larsen from Check This Out[1] has gently suggested I use this space to write about more than music fundraising and economics. With this in mind, and as I figure out exactly what this space should be used for, it occurs to me that writing about what made/makes me love music in the first place certainly fits with the ultimate mission. Thus, while I don’t fancy myself a music writer/journalist—here still—is a love letter to a record I adore.
I can’t remember the first time I heard Matt Hopper, but I suspect it was via Michael Leahy’s Cool as Folk[2] show on KDVS[3] in Davis some time in 2005. I also guess the first song I heard was City Walls, but it could have been Serious as a Heart Attack. Either way, both were off Matt’s 2004 EP, The Gold Rush EP. It's an absolute gem. It nails everything about that period when there was a resurgence of flannel from the Northwest, but this time, a bit more lumberjack than slacker.
Hopper is from Alaska, but if memory serves, he spent much time in Idaho and would tour up and down the West Coast.
There are five tracks on the EP. However, for some reason, I found a copy lacking the 5th song. Thus, for the longest time, I thought it was a four-song EP, and I played those songs on my first-gen iPod over and over and over again. Years later, I discovered I was missing a track and had to email Matt for that final tune, Silver Tongue.
The EP is layered guitar, a bit of keyboard, some percussion, and vocals. It is bedroom pop at its finest. The songwriting is top-notch, and the production is delightful. While I am not a massive fan of backward guitar effects, it is used to incredible impact on this EP. It is often used to segue in and out of tunes and adds to each song's guarded and sometimes not-so-guarded vulnerability.
It starts with the tender “Our love is Soft,” where Hopper describes his love for a partner as being “soft and warm” and that they are “getting by” sometimes – maybe a lot of the time – the older I get I realize a comforting place is more than one can ask for a lot of the time. It certainly goes some way toward getting by.
From here, it segues into the aforementioned “City Walls” and “Serious as a Heart attack,” a helluva a 1, 2, or 2, 3, as it were. City Walls is one of those tunes you feel always existed, yet it still feels fresh every time you hear it. It’s a tricky narrative to follow; there is a bit of a Poncho and Left style intro where we have a boy talking to a girl, like the mom character in Poncho and Lefty, and then Hopper takes a turn where we have a narrator who is a stranger in town. He has come from elsewhere beyond the City Walls, and he’s looking for “one good man.” the audience could be that man. It is a fantastic conceit. And it keeps an air of mystery throughout. The backward guitar he sneaks in and out adds to the slightly off-kilter subject, beautiful melody, and guitar support.
Serious as a heart attack is heartbreak at its finest. It is a sulking lover who is talking himself into or out of something, and he wants to know if this person – who seemingly left him - wants him back, and he’s “serious as a heart attack.” Every line in this song is killer. Hopper raises the stakes every single time until he hits you with the hook. Even after a thousand listens, it still hits.
From here, Hopper mellows but maintains the vulnerability through the final two songs on the record. The last song, in particular, has one of my favorite lines. Silver Tongue starts with what sounds like a banging pot, and Hopper delivers a story about being in love with someone – or the idea of someone – for a long time, but he can’t get the nerve to say it and admit that it is not the right thing. “I’ve been wanting just a bite of your shadow since the very first date… and now you’re holding me back again…” It goes out on this idea followed with “la la las.” The song, the picture, and Hopper disappear into the ether.
His tunes have come in and out of my life. Every time this EP comes on, I am thankful to be alive if only to bear witness to it. It’s perfect, IMHO. The Head and the Heart covered his song False Alarm on their “Signs of Life” record in 2016. I certainly wish more people knew about his work and this EP especially.
Thanks for the tunes, Matt.
~joel
You can buy the EP here:
Stream it here:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-gold-rush-ep/1446068027
[1] Would highly recommend subscribing to his page; he is an actual human-music-journalist who gives great non-algorithmic influenced music recommendations!
[2] https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content/the-coolest-of-folk/1890568/
[3] The most excellent college radio station in the country.
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