Matthew Good - Hospital Music

To most any Canadian music lover, Matthew Good is no stranger. His name has appeared on several Canadian classics beginning with the nineties alternative rock outfit, the Matthew Good Band, and with his more recent acoustic guitar-driven solo career. Good is arguably Canada’s most vocal musician when it comes to social and political issues as most of the albums of his solo career have served as strong commentaries on current affairs. He has also actively worked with Amnesty International over the years, and writes a daily blog offering his take on Canadian and international happenings.

Good’s latest album Hospital Music, however, takes his listeners into new realms. Political sentiments are almost non-existent as the album gives listeners a highly revealing glimpse into Good’s personal life. The album was indeed mostly written in a hospital, as the title implies, in late 2006, after Good suffered several physical and mental breakdowns. The months leading up to Good’s hospital stay had brought him a muddled end to his marriage, wrongly prescribed anti-depressants which almost led to a fatal overdose, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and general physical and mental fatigue from touring. Hospital Music is no doubt Good’s breaking point and acts as a therapeutic outpour of emotion.

The dizzying nine-minute dirge “Champions of Nothing” opens the album and sets the mood of despair and melancholy. It is without question one of the finest songs Good has crafted to this day, not only because of its emotional complexity, but also because of its ability to keep the listener in an elongated state of anticipation without becoming too tedious or excessive.

Despite the album’s grandiose introduction, the remaining tracks, for the most part, are quite mediocre and fall short compared to the material Good has produced in the past. Nonetheless, there are still a few standouts such as his serene cover of the Dead Kennedys’ “Moon Over Marin”, the heartfelt “99% of Us Is Failure”, and his surprisingly upbeat “Born Losers” which received a fair amount of airplay on Canadian stations. The majority of the tracks, however, fails to impress and are predominantly lackluster. Good’s vocals seem more strained and his instrumentation is much less outstanding this time around when compared to past works.

It is difficult to criticize Good’s efforts on Hospital Music, though, because they are most definitely visible. Lyrically, this album stands out as one of his most ambitious and introspective to date. After listening to the honesty of Good’s lyrics, it becomes very evident that the writing of this album was a painful process. Much is revealed in the lines of “99% of Us Is Failure” when Good sings, “Blackbird come the break of day/You swallow the sh*t that people say/Walk outside, look at the sky/Ask it to fall or tell you why”. Good is also not hiding details of his divorce in the bitter lines of “She’s in It for the Money”. His hardships are written with honesty and maturity, and hope still shines through, particularly in Hospital Music’s closing song - a cover of Daniel Johnston’s “True Love Will Find You in the End”.

When well-established musicians start turning out less than fantastic albums, the assumption and accusation are usually the same; the album is viewed as a money grab hastily put together by artists past their prime. This cannot be said about Hospital Music. Although it is far less invigorating than Good’s previous albums, his passion for songwriting is still very evident, and he is undeniably a staple in Canadian and (hopefully someday) international music.