Huge pop anthems of a live-band aura and catchy, evocative songwriting – MatteoM’s long-anticipated album What Is It All About? delivers an extensive exploration of the vagaries of love and the difficulties they present. It begins with the hugely vibrant pop-rock anthem Change Of Heart.
Noting twelve original tracks and showcasing the very best of MatteoM’s heartfelt songwriting and classic, stage-ready vocals, What Is It All About? proceeds to tackle the depths of this album-title and question, through a series of varied but equally emotional songs.
The title question or statement is one designed to encapsulate a melancholic hopelessness in searching for answers. The music has a brightness about it, but the subject matter is wholly consumed by tragedy, desperation, and an ultimate sense of sadness, and this striking use of contrast is powerful.
On that note, after the opener, we move from a subtle Bruno Mars energy into something much more Morrissey-like in its echoing depth, passion, and mellow pace, for Try and Love Again. Then a sudden switch to electronic eighties escapism incites a kind of Depeche Mode influence, for the swirling and immersive She Cries.
Themes here reflect the need for emotional connection and longing, the weight of heartbreak and love, to maintain the album’s conceptual threads. However, on a deeper level, this song is actually an environmental statement, designed to sing about mankind’s perilous relationship with Mother Earth. We’re also shown another new side of the versatile MatteoM voice, and creatively, the album continues along this expressive trajectory.
The electronic dance energy and vocal depth continues through the lyrically poetic and unforgettably catchy anthem Starlight – a definite highlight for its significantly bright contrast of a hook. And this leads beautifully into the acoustic and intimate, vulnerable Talk To You – an acoustically led but evolving, growing soundscape and song, that’s boldly impassioned and performative in a genuine way.
Other highlights from the What Is It All About? album include the traditional piano-ballad set-up and relatable short lines reflecting on love that pour through for Love Is Not Enough, and the folk-fusion and rhythmic originality of an unexpectedly upbeat Dreamers; another huge chorus, a choir-led crescendo that’s beautifully well-placed within the album.
Stylistically the album is consistently interesting, with stand-out instrumental soul and vocal dynamic from the likes of Baby Hold Me, and euphoric electronic vibrancy from additionally catchy tracks like Freedom. Always these themes of uncertain love, the need to connect and unite, resound throughout this diverse and creative collection.
And to finish, MatteoM wraps up the experience, with a revelatory title-track that’s mellow but passionate, loaded with poetic imagery and simile, but built around an easy to appreciate backdrop that’s both spacious and effectively compliments the natural power and long-form melodic outpouring from MatteoM.
A great way to finish, and a timeless album of songs, from a lifelong artist with a proud devotion to meaning and profoundly thoughtful sentiments in his music.
Find MatteoM on Facebook, Instagram & his Website.
