I have often said that a wonderful thing about music is that you continually discover it in random order.
This week I have been listening to Matt Bodman's album Burn. Matt is playing support for Don McGlashan at the 16 Avenue Theatre on September 25. I'll write more about that closer to the time, though tickets are on sale already and I recommend you get some.

But this week I wanted to write about Burn.
One of the best things about getting this album is that, strangely enough, I've never really met Matt Bodman. Actually, maybe we ran into each other in passing at some music night in town that has joined the past's collective haze.
I say it is strange because – as you know – Tauranga isn't the biggest city in the world. If you move in musical circles, which I tend to after writing about the local scene for the last couple of decades, you get to know a lot of musicians, which makes it a little tricky when you come to write about albums they have made. In fact, there's another new release I'll be covering next week where I've invited a guest reviewer in because I felt a little too close to the album and people involved. That happens quite often and is simple reality in a city this size.
So it was great to finally hear Matt's album, because I could come to it completely fresh. I have heard him play, briefly, a few years back but more recently I seemed to keep missing his gigs, either solo or with his trio The Valentine Grind. I missed the album launch; sometimes that's the way it goes. So I had no preconceptions aside from the knowledge that Matt is an excellent guitarist and keyboard player, conducts the orchestra for Tauranga Musical Theatre, and currently teaches music at Otumoetai College.
In fact, Burn was actually released last year, during the month I was away holed up in late night Chicago bars studying the home of the blues and chomping down popcorn shrimp. It was under the band name and had a kinda low-budget look. For some reason, I never heard it. But in the meantime Matt has taken really good advice and repackaged it as a singer/songwriter CD under his own name.
And it was well worth the extra effort. Burn is now classy and sophisticated and in terms of looks can happily stand alongside albums by Barry Saunders, Greg Johnson, Don McGlashan, anyone. What is remarkable is that it is right up there in musical terms as well.
The most difficult, often odious, but generally useful way to describe an album to people who don't know it is to note who it sounds like. So here goes. I hear a lot of Greg Johnson, both in the clever construction of the melodies, the surprisingly complex musical arrangements and the production (and, obviously, the use of piano and trumpet, the trumpet courtesy of Oscar Laven). Opening song ‘Better Off' sounds like a great lost Greg Johnson single and some of the ballads also show an influence. But Matt has a much broader range, whether on the tough character portrait ‘I Shot a Man' or the raucous Broadway piano fun of ‘I Love New York'.
There are also hints of Crowded House in the melodies and a touch of early Split Enz, while the constructions and use of song narrators point to Randy Newman. And, from his musical sophistication it's clear that Matt is classically trained.
Burn is a rich and diverse kaleidoscope of music, moving subtly from radio friendly pop to cultured folk and more experimental pieces such as the delightful ‘Join The Line (A Conversation With Dylan Keys)' where Matt launches an ironic discussion about lack of commercial success.
This is an extraordinary piece of work, particularly since, in addition to his impressive singing, Matt also played all the guitars and keyboards. He is ably supported by Matt Beckett's bass and drum heavyweight Pat Kuhtze. And I'd go as far as to say this is easily as good an album as has yet emerged from the Bay. You can hear some of it on Matt's MySpace page. Track it down and check out that gig – you won't regret it.