Music Review: Matt Keating – Quixotic

Are double albums dead? They probably are, but New York singer songwriter Matt Keating refuses to believe the beloved art form is gone.

Keating's latest expanded effort Quixotic encompasses 23 songs with kind of Americana folk rock not usually heard outside of classic rock radio stations or dive bars. The album cover says it all. If you look, you'll usually find what you're looking for and the great American landscape and all of its former and hopefully still existing wonders are just waiting to be explored.

I'm debating whether Quixotic sounds more like a soundtrack to a cross-country road trip or a weeklong trek through Yellowstone National Park. Either experience is extremely memorable, although mostly as a whole which is how Keating has paced and juxtaposed the nearly two-dozen tracks. There's a wide range of emotion and style that it's impossible to pinpoint anything particularly striking.

It really depends on your mood because the various moods that Keating evokes are plentiful and varied. There are the moments of careful mellowness ("St. Cloud" Mp3), the moments where you get rapidly caught up in the excitement ["Do You Want (To Not Be Lonely With Me)"], the moments where you get caught up in your surroundings ("Lousiana"), the moments where you regret having to leave ("Book Of Changes"), and the moments of pure clarity ("Te Amo").

The full range of Quixotic also includes the many artists that have and do inspire Keating. His many muses range from the traditional Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers ("Lion's Share Of Nothing") to the more traditional Willie Nelson ("Before My Wife Gets Home") to the more modern Bruce Springsteen ("Do In The Dark") to the more contemporary The Shins ("Confidential").

No Depression gave the best description for Keating: "His songs are elegant in structure and packed with wordplay that can amuse, dazzle, or hit way too close to home" (press release). You don't need to hit the repeat button when listening to Quixotic, it's a double album after all.