Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird - EP

Kristian Matsson bestows a sweet little gift in this 2010 EP comprising four new songs and a reworked version of "Like The Wheel" which was originally a bonus song from his acclaimed second studio album, The Wild Hunt. Here, Matsson's singing returns to the more nasal-inflected approximations of a young Bob Dylan. Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird opens with "Little River," a slightly more sprightly paced ditty where Matsson's voice locks into a higher register more reminiscent of Running Down the Road-era Arlo Guthrie. Matsson plugs in on the poetic "The Dreamer," though he continues to play unaccompanied by a band. But that's just fine because his implementation of pickups and an amplifier bring out yet another dimension of his voice where natural tremolos quiver and trill when he's competing for volume with the guitar tone. "Tangle In This Trampled Wheat" boasts arpeggios reminiscent of "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" while "Thrown Right At Me" bends and slides with more bluesy aplomb.