Matt Corby - Transition to Colour

Yes he was on Australian Idol. Yes he was born in the 90's. But as Simon Jones writes, Matt Corby deserves to shake the tags and be seen for what he is, one of the emerging talents on the Australian singer-songwriter scene.

Sometimes the hardest thing about reviewing an album is to avoid the predictible. You'll be hard pushed to find a single review of Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy that doesn't drop the magic words Twitter, Taylor Swift and or Pitchfork into the opening paragraph. Reviewing Matt Corby's latest EP presents a similar challenge. Though 19-year old Corby lacks diamond teeth and MTV gatecrashing experience, you'll still find review cliché's cropping up in his reviews as regularly as well... cliché's.  In the case of Matt Corby, the four words you're likely to read in any given review ('young' being the fifth and rank outsider) being 'Jeff Buckley' and 'Australian Idol'. Find a review which doesn't drop them. I double dare you!

The Idol tag is the easiest to shake off. Corby can hardly be blamed for entering a talent show at age 16, nor for doing well enough to come runner up. That said, Corby was shrewd to spend more time in London than Australia over the last few years and avoid being pidgeon-holed as 'that kid from Idol'. His considerable skills would have been wasted on the RSL and night club circuit and he's lucky to have escaped such a miserable fate.

The Buckley tag is harder to shake. Corby shares those same haunted vocals, broad range, and young precociousness that made Buckley stand out fifteen years back. At its best it hints at serious potential. At its worst, especially on the wailing outros, it brings to mind the countless flash in the pan oh-so-sincere singer songwriters that emerged post-Grace. Depending on how you feel about Buckley and his sway of immitators will almost certainly determine how much you get out of this release.

Despite Transition to Colour being Corby's third EP, it still feels like a 'young' release. Too often he throws his voice at a song, showcasing his impressive range but adding little to the song's development. Yet when Corby shows a touch more restraint, such as on single Made of Stone, the smoke and red wine soaked Kings, Queens, Beggars and Thieves and folky hidden track Refuge, the results exhibit a richness that defy his age.

At the ripe old age of 20, Corby oozes potential and with a couple of strong tracks and canny management, will likely become one of the big names on the Australian music scene in years to come. Transition to Colour is an effective snapshot of a talented young artist finding his feet. If he can focus his talent and curb the vocal excesses, Matt Corby's debut will be one to check out in 2011.