Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There has always been something gentle in the way Matt Swift portrays his music, a spirit that has been severely tested over the years but somehow he keeps coming back for more. It has been a couple of years since Matt released the Lesson Over E.P., his first foray into releasing music and whilst that E.P. was genuine, from the heart and musically superb, the test was always going to be when Matt was in the right place to record another set of great songs. Questions Answered is perhaps the perfect response to Lesson Over.

Inspiration isn’t like a tap, it shouldn’t be easily turned on and whatever comes out used; creativity needs a moment of reflection to digest what the artist has seen before the imagination takes full hold. By waiting a couple of years, Matt Swift has learned a lot, not just about the way his music is received but also about himself, the shy young man is still there but the present has made him confident and more at ease, the songs on the new E.P. reflect this new found burst of creative ingenuity.

The new E.P. boasts seven new songs that have seen Matt at perhaps his most productive and most sensual. There is something more at play though when comparing the two E.P.s; something more tangible that wasn’t there before, something that marks Matt’s work out as being definite, long lasting and a cry from a battered heart that has been heeded and finally looked after, his guitar has become a friend and not just something to play with. It is as if the head, heart and guitar have become more in tune and helped by the stability of a life that he needed to push him onto the next level.

Questions Answered sees Matt bare his soul and of those around him, songs such as Everybody Suffers Sometimes, The Travellers Song and the excellent Please Don’t Call Me Perfect encapsulate wonderfully the man’s ability both in heart-rendering lyrics but also in the way he sees the world. It may have been two years since Lesson Over but for Matt it was worth the wait.

Ian D. Hall