3) Loser Anthems - Matthew Good Band (Top Extended Plays)

Loser Anthems

Matthew Good Band
Universal Records.

SCQ Rating: 91%

While The Audio of Being’s reported year-long mixing process might make it the most sonically adventurous MGB album, Loser Anthems, released five months earlier, afforded the band a stress-free opportunity to explore the freedom of studio-time. 'Flashdance 2’ is not only one of their finest songs, it’s also inexplicably their poorest mix of any record. That it’s followed up by the crystal-clean ambience of ‘The Man From Harold Wood’, a song that is essentially the come-down for ‘Flashdance 2’ only makes it stranger.

Following the fist-pumping arena-rock of ‘My Life as a Circus Clown’, Loser Anthems turns into Matt Good’s personal experiment. As stated in an interview, Matt became interested in recording empty space. He’d take microphones out into the studio halls, prop them by open windows, and their stillness clearly occupies the EP’s last three songs. ‘Flight Recorder from Viking 7’ is an isolated, droning tale of a lost astronaut (or perhaps, Good himself who was dealing with the pressures of fame at that time), and features Holly McNarland in an unexpectedly great contribution. ‘Life Beyond the Minimum Safe Distance’ is one of the best pieces Good has written, and last track ‘The Fine Art of Falling Apart’ is recorded as a first take; a song written and meant to be sung just once. While it may lack the shimmer of what would become the MGB’s last album, its grainy experimentation makes Loser Anthems one of the finest Extended Plays I own.