Witnessing the artistic arc of Matt Longo, recording as Thin Lear, has been a fascinating activity over the past five years. In 2020, the New Jersey-based singer-songwriter released Wooden Cave, a matchless collection of elegant chamber pop that seemed to fuse the collective inspiration of Leonard Cohen, Harry Nilsson, and Randy Newman, among others, earning rave reviews and spots on year-end best-of lists. Last year, his EP A Beach of Nightly Glory reiterated those same influences, but was also inspired by his newfound status as a father. With A Shadow Waltzed Itself, his new EP, Longo is still treading much of the same sonic territory, but with a darker edge and more sinister themes.
As stated in the EP’s press notes, Thin Lear’s A Shadow Waltzed Itself “illustrates the moment one recognizes that something of great value (a person, a community, a sense of self) has quietly moved away from them.” The five tracks are presented like short stories, imbued with a late-night atmosphere that gives the recordings added gravitas.
“Pilgrim” begins the record, not surprisingly, in a waltz tempo (like most of the EP’s tracks). “And so I dreamed a different story,” the song begins. “Dead-eyed to the mainland / Bellies up the black sand / As the dawn of modern man.” Tracking the growth of a monster, the music is at times lilting, but also contains subtle bits of guitar distortion and effects, with John Raymond’s beautiful horn swells providing a unique counterpoint. “For every evil that’s been visited upon me,” Thin Lear sings as the track concludes. “I’ll cast it on you nightly / Plague another in return.”
While previous albums included moments of more traditional pop/rock – Wooden Cave contained the muscular propulsion of “The Guesthouse” and “Maniacs”, and A Beach of Nightly Glory includes the crunchy power-pop of “Bowie’s Ley Lines” – this time around, Longo is content to keep things steadily low-key, which serves the subdued dread of the subject matter.
The instrumentation relies less on a full-band sound, as Longo plays guitar, bass, and percussion, with assistance from the aforementioned Raymond, Jake Sherman and Thomas Erwin on keyboards, Jonny Lam on pedal steel, and Carlos Fonseca on percussion. “The Diner” uses a through line of percussion, creating a delicate spine as Longo sings gently about the end of a relationship.
The bright, gorgeous acoustic folk of “Blessings All Around” is deceptive in that speaks to the sometimes-crippling grind of the creative process: “Sing for 20 years / It ain’t self-loving / Any moron whispers blessings all around.” The gently percussive rhythms of “Richard’s New Job” recall – in title, at least – “Richard in Outer Space” from A Beach of Nightly Glory, but this time around he’s singing about a man whose job is being taken over by machines.
It’s another area where Longo identifies with unreliable narrators like Randy Newman and Paul Heaton (and vocally, his similarity to Heaton is particularly striking). Additionally, the rich, complex, and engaging melodies of the artists who’ve influenced Longo have a similar effect in that they mask the horror that the subject matter entails.
The EP concludes with “Beauty of the Shifting Tide”, which Longo has stated is the most personal song in this collection, as the lyrics wrestle with self-doubt and negativity as a parent and spouse, to the extent that he is envious of the tide on the beach where he walks with his family. “Oh, beauty of the shifting tide / You change with all your might / My will it breaks in half the time / You’ll pull me all my life.” Thin Lear is a complete artist in that his influences are impeccable and apparent in his songs, yet he still crafts his own unique, brilliant voice.