Description:
From his days in the baroque-pop combo Cardinal to his excellent cover of Elliott Smith`s "Needle In The Hay," Eric Matthews has demonstrated a consistent genius for producing great arrangements and sonic frills from others` solid templates-but not so much with his solo songs. On The Imagination Stage, he once again tries to save "a music half-blind and afraid to fly," per the title track, from itself. On "Her Life," a typically immaculate brass-trio-vs.-pipe-organ breakdown is more arresting than the surrounding song. More often, he gets the song/arrangement mix right, as on "Little 18," with its pleasingly XTC-esque basic piano chords and yelping vocals. The results can bleed into each other, but Matthews neglects melody for instrumentation less than he once did. -- Vadim Rizov, avclub.com
