When I first heard Matt Costa’s prior Songs We Sing CD, my initial impression was: ‘Oh no, not another Jack Johnson wannabe!’ After all, he’s a sensitive singer/songwriter signed to Johnson’s Brush Fire Records. But Unfamiliar Faces simply bursts with previously unforeseen, yet highly appealing, Costa facial expressions. On the surface, “Emergency Call,” with its easygoing Grateful Dead vibe and overly familiar patient-in-need-of-a-cure lyric, strongly suggests Pop Music Cliché. But dang if I can’t stop listening to this track over and over, while all the while happily shuffling my feet! This one’s preceded by “Never Looking Back,” which rolls to simple country acoustic guitar strums highlighted by Neil Young-ish harmonica. I haven’t any idea what “Cigarette Eyes” are, but this piano/acoustic guitar workout somehow makes me want to pick up that mystery habit, sight unseen. Costa’s Americana influences are everywhere, although “Trying to Lose My Mind” will have you lazing on a Kinksian sunny afternoon. He even whistles on it. “Bound,” on the other hand, is deadly serious. “Wanna leave/Wanna go/That woman is the devil, yes I know,” Costa moans. Over bluesy acoustic guitar, he sings it like an inmate simultaneously scraping a tin cup back and forth across jail cell bars. Yet “Bound” is just one example of how Matt Costa has put on his best face with Unfamiliar Faces.
-- Dan MacIntosh
