Matt Mays
Matt Mays has been a Canadian songwriter dignitary for a while now, but I have come to gain an expanded respect for him because of his most recent works. His latest release, Dog City, first came together when he stepped away from the corona-verse for a bit, essentially let the music flow out of him, and then put it on Bandcamp “on a whim” in May of this year, without anyone else having heard it. He then polished up the tracks, and released a remastered version at the end of September. So, at the time of writing this, the album is somehow dated and new at the same time. Dog City is, as Mays says, “13 songs written through the eyes of a rescue dog,” and represents a wide range of music. Stretching from the epic “Talking to the Sky” to the subdued cover of “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges, it is one of my favourite releases so far since the COVID pandemic began. I highly recommend Dog City for anyone, but especially for those that may be feeling the additional weight of the times we are facing and need a pick-me-up.
-Jamie Varga
4.5 out of 5
