Have you ever taken a new trip down memory lane? That would be oxymoronic you say? I beg to differ, and in the new EP from Atlanta roots tinged power poppers Nine X Blue I have a pretty good example of the experience.If you are of a certain age it is damn near impossible to listen to Matter Of Time without travelling back to the early 1990's when these sorts of sounds were everywhere. "Falling After You" kicks things off in a decidedly Gin Blossomy fashion and in a disarmingly kick ass fashion. It is also a wonderfully recorded song. Just crank it up in the car with the windows rolled down this summer and you will believe you are twenty years younger, (right until the moment another damn text hits your phone and rudely brings you back to the present....or is that just me?)
"Sometime" is a gentle number with a Toad The Wet Sprocket feel, especially in the verses. The chorus is all Nine X Blue, however, and catchy as all get out. The title track, co-written with the wonderful Cliff Hillis, might not grab you on first listen but give it a few plays. It has a way of growing in stature at the same time it is burrowing into your brain.
That is fitting as the entire EP has a way of doing that very thing. By the time the terrific finale of "Only Lonely (The Shovel Song)" ends you will be cursing the fact this effort is only six songs long. Then again maybe that's okay. After all, my wife might not appreciate my travelling back to the 90's without her.
Grade: A-
