Matthew Good — Hospital Music

Hospital Music

Universal

Shaun Hatton (CHARTattack)

08/07/2007 9:01pm

Matthew Good is depressed. In promotional material for this album he writes, "I remember being in the shower drinking beer thinking to myself that something wasn't right." Hospital Music is his attempt at confronting his past and making the listener share his pain. On "99% Of Us Is Failure" and the opener — the unnecessarily nine-and-a-half-minutes long "Champions Of Nothing" — Good bellows his trademark nasally whine over droning guitars like a child who's dropped his millionth ice cream cone. Some songs feature looped dialogue samples to complement the feeling of gloom, but they feel more like an afterthought. The album's prevailing theme is one of misery and self-pity, yet Good seemingly has a hidden agenda. Hospital Music is also a test of human tolerance as Good seeks to answer the question, "How much of this boring album can one take before being driven to drink beer in the shower?"