32. When the Angels Make Contact – Matt Mays (2006)

(Taken from the SCQ Review:)

After conquering folk, roots-rock and Springsteen-grandeur on his first two albums (one mostly acoustic, the second entirely electric), When the Angels Make Contact finds Mays mixing the aforementioned with electronic instruments, hip-hop and frankly, the best production (courtesy of El Torpedo’s Tim Jim Baker) for some of Mays best songs. Perhaps because of the unfinished film’s subject matter (a biker who searches the brink of mortality for his lost love), songs like ‘Spoonful of Sugar’ and the title track feel emotionally troubled compared to Mays’ earlier work, while ‘Rough N’ Tumble Come Down’ sounds down-right dangerous.

Truthfully, some of the songs within this 18 track behemoth are so powerful, I’ve occasionally daydreamed about how perfect this record would’ve been had he ditched most of the soundtrack-y interludes and kept the absolute essential eleven songs. It would’ve been Mays’ brooding masterpiece, and contender for SCQ’s album of the year in 2006.