Matthew Sweet - Modern Art

The power pop of Matthew Sweet has always been a hit & miss affair on each album he's released. This one is really no different because sometimes he sounds like he knows what he's doing and other times he sounds like he's lost in a mess of ideas that are all mixed up and overlapping themselves.  The song "Ivory Tower" harkens back to the late 60's psychedelic era and does a fairly good job of emulating the period but it lacks the cohesiveness needed in today's world to gain much attention in the mainstream.

The you get more sickly sweet pop goodness from him that works well enough for background music at a wedding or something. When he finally knocks in an RBI the album is nearly half way through and the song called "Lady Fingers" re-ignites my interest in listening further. Another song I found entertaining was "Late Nights With The Power Pop" but I'm not sure it would bring me back for repeated listens. For the most part this album is a failure on every power pop level because it lacks the hooky chorus and the catchy melodies. I'd consider this album his worst effort ever because not even one song compares to his best stuff. Modern Art is non-memorable and will never get listened to again by me.