Matt Costa - Unfamiliar Faces
Our Price: $52.98
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $21.42 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: Matt CostaEdition: Music CD
Format: Extra tracks, Import
CD Release Date: 2008-02-12
Music Label: Phantom Sound & Vision
Soundtracks:
- Mr. Pitiful
- Lilacs
- Never Looking Back
- Emergency Call
- Vienna
- Unfamiliar Faces
- Cigarette Eyes
- Downfall
- Trying to Lose My Mind
- Bound
- Heart of Stone
- Miss Magnolia
Music reviews of Unfamiliar Faces
Music Review: Getting Better With Each Album
Rating: 4 Stars
I got into Matt Costa after hearing his track on Sing-A-Longs & Lullabies for the Film Curious George (Jack Johnson). Then after seeing him live shortly afterward I came to really appreciate him as an artist. So once this album came out it was a definite day one purchase.
The album as a whole musically and lyrically surpasses his previous Songs We Sing album with stand outs like Lilacs, Unfamiliar Faces, Cigarette Eyes and Miss Magnolia. The sound of the album has a great blend of acoustic rock and some songs mixed with elements of southern blue grass sound like in Miss Magnolia.
As a whole, the album is a great listen, with barely a bad track in site. But the weaker (but not bad) songs like Bound and Heart of Stone keep it from getting 5 stars. Any fan of the Brushfire record line should pick up this album and his previous Songs We Sing. Anyone else should give a few songs a listen first since it's not for all in the mainstream music scene. Great Album buy a great artist, and make sure you see him live if you are lucky enough to get a chance.
Description of Unfamiliar Faces
When Matt Costa sat down to write what would become Unfamiliar Faces, the follow-up to his 2005 debut full-length Songs We Sing, the singer/songwriter took his most treasured belongings and put them on a shelf -- then stared at them and just let the memories flow. "That way I could see everything that I loved," he explains (the collection included his favorite books, a giant wooden pipe, and a box of old 45-speed records from the late 1950s). "I let my imagination wander. Regular life isn't as exciting as an imaginary life." On the strength of the folky, beautiful Songs, which displays his gentle artistry and skillful acoustic guitar playing, Costa earned a rep as an L.A. buzz act, crisscrossed the U.S. in a van, and performed at all the major North American music festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza, Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, and Austin City Limits among others. Invigorated by onstage collaborations with tour openers like Los Angeles rockers The 88 and Elvis Perkins, he returned to California and wrote nearly all of Unfamiliar Faces in Sacramento, then recorded the album in the spring of 2007 in Santa Ana, again with Dumont, even inviting Adam Merrin from The 88 to play keys on a few tracks. It's Costa's second release on Brushfire Records, the label co-founded by Jack Johnson, who has been a longtime supporter - the two fellow musicians have toured together several times and collaborated on numerous soundtrack projects.Matt Costa's Unfamiliar Faces continues to demonstrate the facility with pop craft and disparate influences he displayed on his 2006 debut, Songs We Sing. One listen to Costa's work and it's obvious why Jack Johnson felt compelled to sign him to his Brushfire Records label, as he shares Johnson's fondness for direct, agreeable alternative pop. But Costa leans slightly more into the alternative side of that equation on Faces. He sounds just as comfortable working off a Brit-pop template as he does with incorporating bits of bands like the Smiths (especially on "Vienna") and straightforward, contemporary sounds a la Counting Crows, or the quieter moments in Dave Matthews's catalog. Songs like "Mr. Pitiful" and "Cigarette Eyes" show off convincing choral hooks, and his unadorned, relaxed singing style is flexible enough to give ballads like "Heart of Stone" a compelling, folksy melancholy. It isn't quite flexible enough, however, to handle the drama of something like "Bound," with its bluesy, Jeff Buckley-esque grandeur. But it's to Costa's credit that he tries to stretch himself and find the edges in his smooth, easily digestible songwriting instincts. --Matthew Cooke
General CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in General CDs
Jenny Lewis - Acid TongueRelease date: 2008-09-23; Music CD
Best price: $8.86
Price in other shops:
TV on the Radio - Dear Science,Release date: 2008-09-23; Music CD
Best price: $8.13
Price in other shops:
Sarah McLachlan - Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlanRelease date: 2008-10-07; Music CD
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops:
U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky - Deluxe Edition CD/ DVDRelease date: 2008-09-30; Music CD
Best price: $18.97
Price in other shops:
Keane - Perfect SymmetryRelease date: 2008-10-14; Music CD
Best price: $8.87
Price in other shops:
Oasis - Dig Out Your SoulRelease date: 2008-10-07; Music CD
Best price: $7.69
Price in other shops:
Sarah McLachlan - Closer-The Best of Sarah McLachlanRelease date: 2008-10-07; Music CD
Best price: $7.75
Price in other shops:
Jason Mraz - We Sing, We Dance, We Steal ThingsRelease date: 2008-05-13; Music CD
Best price: $8.38
Price in other shops:
Kings of Leon - Only By The NightRelease date: 2008-09-23; Music CD
Best price: $7.64
Price in other shops:
Coldplay - Viva La VidaRelease date: 2008-06-17; Music CD
Best price: $6.67
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Donavon Frankenreiter - Recycled RecipesRelease date: 2007-10-02; Music CD
Best price: $3.82
Price in other shops:
Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow StairsRelease date: 2008-05-13; Music CD
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops:
Jason Mraz - We Sing, We Dance, We Steal ThingsRelease date: 2008-05-13; Music CD
Best price: $7.96
Price in other shops:
Vampire Weekend - Vampire WeekendRelease date: 2008-01-29; Music CD
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday MorningsRelease date: 2008-03-25; Music CD
Best price: $5.97
Price in other shops:
Radiohead - In RainbowsRelease date: 2008-01-01; Music CD
Best price: $8.15
Price in other shops:
Coldplay - Viva La VidaRelease date: 2008-06-17; Music CD
Best price: $7.82
Price in other shops:
JunoRelease date: 2008-01-08; Music CD
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Matt Costa - Songs We SingRelease date: 2006-03-28; Music CD
Best price: $9.34
Price in other shops:
Jack Johnson - Sleep Through The StaticRelease date: 2008-02-05; Music CD
Best price: $5.78
Price in other shops: