It's official – four out of five people like Matt Bodman* I don't personally know the man so I couldn't say but I've long admired his music.

His debut CD from a couple of years back is one of my favourite local releases so I was most excited earlier this month when I got an email to say that his new album is ready.
That's good news since Matt's been keeping it fairly quiet on the live front this year. Fair enough too. He's been the musical director for the Tauranga Musical Theatre production of Grease, has a just-recently-arrived baby, and is a full-time music teacher at Otumoetai College.
But, in amongst that, he's spent the last several months working on a new album, Hallelujah Circus, and an extraordinary piece of work it is.

Promising future
Matt's debut was a lovely collection of poppy piano-based songs that reminded me of Greg Johnson. There were smart lyrics and good tunes and it promised a lot for the future. Hallelujah Circus, made with his band the Valentine Grind, takes things to a far more ambitious place.
There are eight songs and, at just 35 minutes, it's not a long album. But this is so concentrated and focused that it never seems short. To my ears it's an album of two halves.
The first half – this is just my theory – is a musical suite showing noticeable prog-rock elements. The songs are about the difficulties of forming new relationships on top of the baggage of old, and eventual healing through the redemptive power of nature.
'New Love, Old Pain” is the slow build-up, taking almost two minutes before the vocal starts and setting up two characters talking in the dark of night. This flows into 'We Begin”, showcasing Matt's remarkable voice and ease of slipping into falsetto. The melody is catchy and unusual, building to a repeated questioning refrain. That leads into the title track, the most prog-rocky of the set, a frantic dash with distinct hints of early Brian Eno, and on to 'Finally”, where dawn is breaking and the music becomes warm and welcoming.
It's an epic journey, alternately tender and bombastic, filled with complicated and, at times, challenging music.
And that is followed by four pop songs, which abandon the previous prog-rock leanings and show a distinctive Beatles influence. Or maybe it's the influence of bands that sound like The Beatles. It's there in the chord changes, the harmonies, and the odd musical touch such as the 'Penny Lane” trumpet that pops up at the end of 'New Quixote”. The exception is 'Wenn ich älter bin (When I Am Older)” which name-checks Harry Nilsson in the intro and is a delightfully creepy ballad, the piano accompaniment slowly decaying into queasy dissonance.
My favourite is the next song, 'Polar Magnets”, a spectacularly well-arranged perfectly joyful pop song, again with Beatles (or perhaps Nilsson) nods. Then there's the wrap-up 'Let's Stay Indoors” with more of Matt's superb banked harmonies and a coruscating guitar solo (Kelly McNamara, I think).
The fantastic production here is the work Nathan Sowter of La Petit Maison. Nathan has a studio at the Mount and is doing stunning work. The sheer complexity of what is going on here is astounding. All the musicians deserve huge kudos too.

Have a listen
At present Hallelujah Circus is only available on-line (expect a CD proper later in the year). It's at http://mattbodmanandthevalentinegrind.bandcamp.com/album/hallelujah-circus. You can listen for free or download it, picking your own price and choosing which format you want (mp3, FLAC etc). The credits for the many fine players are there.
And, seriously, check it out. This is remarkable stuff.
*Before writing about people I do what all good journalists do: Google them. And, Googling Matt, aside from his Facebook page and many musical sites, I came across Ratemyteachers.com.
It's a site that allows pupils to do exactly what the name implies and Matt gets a rating of four out of five stars. To be more precise, four people rate him at five stars ('Real nice guy and is so funny! He is awesome to be around!” is a typical comment).