One of the by-products of our social media driven lives is that nothing can be just OK anymore. You can’t be good at something, you have to be fantastic. There’s no such thing as a bad day; it was terrible. Despite the sparkle from your feed, the unfortunate reality is most of us are just average Jane’s and Joe’s. No one in the songwriting world realizes that better than Dallas native, Matt Hillyer. His latest record, Bright Skyline, highlights the trials and tribulations that are just part of everyday life.
You can start with Moving Away. It’s a story about *those* neighbors. We’ve all had them and Hillyer captures the full spectrum. Did She Ever Want To Live Like This is a bit of an awakening that maybe you’re the problem. Another comment on domestic life is Honey Do Blues. It’s a lazy swing number, with a Bill Frisell guitar sound. The title track leans more to rock ballad than country, in an observation about life in the unseen part of a city where “it sparkles from afar”, but “you don’t want to be here when the sun goes down”. The CD finishes with A Daily Fight, a dance hall tune that kind of summarizes the record when reminding you that every day is a struggle and you have to power through it instead of worrying about what you can’t change.
Several of the cuts are variations on an outlaw country love song. Even An Angel wonders how she can be so saintly and not always be blue. It Would Take A Miracle is an old-fashioned boom-chucka, boom-chucka country song about love at first sight where “I’d walk atop the seven seas and cross the great divide” for you. If I Had Everything I Want sounds like an alternative to Janis Joplin’s Mercedes Benz, except here, after the list of material goods, the lover is at the top of the list. If I Didn’t Have You is a rockabilly driven acknowledgement that without you I’d be “sinking fast just like a stone”.
Perhaps better known as the frontman for Eleven Hundred Springs, Matt Hillyer has been out on his own for a few years now and you can feel him hitting his stride with his sophomore effort. It’s full of narratives about ordinary people, set to a good twangy soundtrack. Whether you’re new to Hillyer or a long-time fan, Bright Skyline warrants giving it a good listen, or several.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.