(2020) Matt Costa - Yellow Coat


Review:
Recorded with producer Alex Newport (Death Cab for Cutie, Frank Turner), Yellow Coat is singer/ songwriter Matt Costa’s second album for Dangerbird Records and sixth overall. A warm, often bleary, reverb-washed record, it features performances from touring musicians and friends, but its inspiration was distinctly solitary. Somewhat atypical of a breakup album, the resulting dozen songs look broadly at love’s ability to both comfort and devastate. More in line with expectations is a melancholic cloud that sits over even livelier tracks, like the vintage Motown-inspired (and likely Richard Swift-influenced) “Savannah.” Upbeat and up-tempo but with lyrically heartbroken, the track’s echoing atmospheres showcase a melodic bassline that cuts through rattling drum kit, haunted backing vocals, honking baritone sax, and even Costa’s raspy lead falsetto. Like much of Yellow Coat, it’s a feel-good tune despite lines like the repeated “I loved you like my own though I never never never could make you mine.” Elsewhere, “Slow” recalls Sam Cooke with not only its nostalgic vocal melody but slow-dance, triplet bass-and-piano rhythms and dreamy, atmospheric depths. Even the minimalist ballad “Last Love Song” has Costa and his acoustic guitar accompanied by a ghostly backing choir, lending a hymn-like quality to a song that was written as an anniversary gift, only to have its lyrics updated for the album. Yellow Coat closes on a likewise-bittersweet note with the pairing of the brightly folky, mid-tempo “When the Avalanche Comes” (“You can make it but don’t ask why/Some live and some fall and some die”) and “So I Say Goodbye,” a musically jaunty, piano-based track with a summery melody and lyrics that “…say goodbye to you/Just a slide show in my mind/Watch it as it flickers by on by.” Together, it’s a solid set equally well-suited for summer drives or broken hearts on-the-mend.


Tracklist:
01 - Avenal
02 - Slow
03 - Make That Change
04 - Let Love Heal
05 - Last Love Song
06 - Jet Black Lake
07 - Savannah
08 - Broken Eros (Interlude)
09 - Yellow Coat
10 - Sky Full of Tears
11 - When the Avalanche Comes
12 - So I Say Goodbye


Media Report:
Genre: indie-folk
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits