a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1133/636/1600/Matt%20Costa%20Songs%20We%20Sing.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1133/636/320/Matt%20Costa%20Songs%20We%20Sing.jpg” alt=”" border=”0″ //a p class=”MsoNormal”Matt Costa’s history seems to precede him coming into the new year. After touring with Jack Johnson, Fader magazine named Costa the #3 thing “You didn’t appreciate enough in 2005.” All that while it’s becoming increasingly popular and acceptable to explore relationships and span style=”font-style: italic;”emotions/span through acoustic ballads and slow winding lullabies. However, with few exceptions I generally stay away from music along these lines. Despite my hesitations, Costa’s iSongs We Sing/i develops as a self ratifying, instrumentally versatile, mature album.o:pbr //o:p/p p class=”MsoNormal”o:p/o:pi style=”"Songs We Sing/i begins with an upbeat rhythm and finds a unique balance within the wide array of instruments which find their own unique niche.span style=”" /span“Sweet Thursday” introduces a full span style=”font-style: italic;”rock band sound/span, with the welcomed addition of an electric, modestly distorted guitar.span style=”" /spanFollowing which, Costa introduces stand-alone acoustic melodies and distant piano sounds, all of whichpeaking with the indie rock honky-tonk “Ballad of Miss Kate.”span style=”" /spanAvoiding the watered down term alt-country, this song doesn’t get lost in itself, offering a valid “indie-rock” take at the old honky-tonk sound.span style=”" /span“Ballad…” seems to be a perfect fit for both Costa’s vocal capabilities and lyrical themes; one of the album’s high points.o:pbr //o:p/p p class=”MsoNormal”o:p/o:pWhile experiencing high points, the album starts through a feeling of lost; romantically lost, lyrically lost, and musically unstable.span style=”" /spanThe album’s beauty, however, is found in the vast genres it covers; though my initial thoughts were that it was a reaction to being uncertain of a certain path to take with the album.span style=”" /spanAs I spent more time with span style=”font-style: italic;”Songs/span I found that my initial thoughts were presumptuous to a certain degree.span style=”" /spanThe album finds and excellent progression both musically and lyrically, ultimately seeking increased strength through the development of self approval.span style=”" /spanThe album’s title track can best sum things up, “These are the songs that I sing to make the day better.”span style=”" /spanAnd with the overall comforting feeling the album brings, Costa should be encouraged to continue performing the songs he sings.br //p p class=”MsoNormal”a href=”http://mattcosta.com/music/SongsWeSing/MattCosta_ColdDecember.mp3″Matt Costa “Cold December”/a span style=”font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);”(mp3)br //spana href=”http://mattcosta.com/music/outtakes/Sunshine.mp3″Matt Costa “Sunshine (demo)”/a span style=”font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);”(mp3)br //spana href=”http://mattcosta.com/media/BalladofMissKateStrm.asx”Matt Costa “The Ballad of Miss Kate”/a span style=”font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);”(streaming)br //span/p p class=”MsoNormal”a href=”http://mattcosta.com/default.asp”Matt Costa – Official Site/abr /a href=”http://www.myspace.com/mattcostamusic”Matt Costa – MySpace Site/a span style=”font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);”(4 songs)/spanbr //p p class=”MsoNormal”a href=”http://search.insound.com/search/showrelease.jsp?from=37171amp;p=INS27396″Buy from Insound/a/p