Nick Waterhouse & The Mattson 2 Live Show Review: 5/8, Lincoln Hall, Chicago
The Mattson 2
BY JORDAN MAINZER
At last night’s Nick Waterhouse/The Mattson 2 show at Lincoln Hall, one of my friends remarked to me that he had listened to many of Waterhouse’s albums but recognized only a few songs during the concert--yet they all sounded familiar. Such is the case with the R&B/blues/rockabilly/soul singer: He has a surprising amount of material--four albums worth, at this point--but no real standouts. His new self-titled album is perhaps the best distillation of his aesthetic and songwriting ability, and likewise, so was last night’s showcase of his talent. The band began the set with the plinky “Which Was Writ” but took off after that, an airtight mixture of Waterhouse’s guitar, bass, keys, two saxophones, and backup vocals. The harmonies were certainly a highlight; album standout “Wreck The Rod” translated well, the backing vocalists able to shout “love” as Waterhouse delivered sharp tongued lines like “love’s a lovely suicide pact.” And even slower songs like “Undedicated” showed a band capable of restraint as much as outward demonstrations of instrumental prowess.
Of course, there’s no denying that Waterhouse is a little safe, the corny doo-wop of “Katchi” an example of why he tends to attract an audience that would make my dad feel young. When he introduced his cover of Allah-Las’ “Don’t You Forget It”, urging the crowd to check out the song, he remarked, “You all have smart phones at this point,” which would have been an old man thing to say at the beginning of the decade, let alone the end. It’s the classic adage “born in the wrong era,” thought Waterhouse’s value is in the way he brings retro music to today. The call and response between his guitar and the keyboards on the cover reminded you what makes the jazz and blues interaction so exhilarating to begin with, and baritone saxophonist Paula Henderson’s Sun Ra Arkestra-inspired playing catapulted “Dead Room” to an effectively psychedelic place. I came away from the show satisfied but not wowed, wishing for a few more moments of out-there improvisational weirdness.
Opening for Waterhouse were psychedelic funk-jazz duo The Mattson 2, consisting of identical twins Jared (guitar) and Jonathan Mattson (drums). The band is, first and foremost, ambitious in their collaborations and projects, having released an album with Toro y Moi’s Chaz Bundick and covered John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme in full, and their upcoming album Paradise is the first to feature their vocals. This also marks the first time they’re performing with vocals, which not only allows both brothers to fill in for Bundick on songs like “Star Stuff” and “Don’t Blame Yourself” but reveals that the two can harmonize with each other with vocal as well as instrumental chemistry. Sure, it makes for some sterile or self-indulgent moments, like Jared singing along to his own guitar solo, but for the most part, it was just as effortless as their playing. Their performance of new song “Naima’s Dream” fit with its main refrain: “You’re so special / You’re so easy,” Jared sings, the relationship he describes as natural as the progression of the band’s songs.
