Self-released

Having honed his skills leading the Los Angeles-based pop/alt rockers The Northstar Session, singer/songwriter/guitarist Matthew Szlachetka has hit the ground running solo with Waits For A Storm To Find – and it’s a great listen.

Szlachetka’s sound is a multi-faceted one, for sure – and there are hints of many things to be found within. The album-opening “Wasting Time” could easily be mistaken for a long-lost Jackson Browne/David Lindley collaboration (soaring steel guitar and all), for instance – while “I Keep Telling Myself It’s Fine” will make you think of Alejandro Escovedo getting his punk on with its stone-solid thrash and snarl.

Szlachetka shows himself to be a soulful bluesman (“I Can’t Look At Your Face”); a wearer of his heart on a well-pressed denim sleeve à la McGuinn Clark & Hillman (“And I See You Now”); and a tune craftsman who knows how to meld the raggedy with the smooth (“Threw You Away In Los Angeles”). And the more stripped-down acoustic arrangements – “Come Home For December”, “All These Lines” and “Carry Me Home”, for example – may not remind you of anyone, but that’s not necessary … and that’s when you realize that Matthew Szlatchetka sounds just like Matthew Szlatchetka.

And that’s a good thing.

*****

Brian Robbins’ denim sleeves are usually not well-pressed over at www.brian-robbins.com