Matisyahu

Shattered

Epic/Sony BMG

Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

11/06/2008 1:11pm

Shattered is a teaser EP for Light, Matisyahu's upcoming third album. From the sounds of these four tracks (all of which will appear on the full-length), Light looks to be far more experimental than anything Matisyahu has released, and that's good and bad. Opener "Smash Lies" has ridiculous synthesizer parts that sound perfect for a dance floor. That, combined with Matisyahu's rapping, means it sounds more like Sean Paul (seriously) than anything on Youth or Shake Off The Dust... Arise. Second track "So Hi So Lo" could fit nicely on Youth, but it's out of place next to the opener. "Two Child One Drop" is split into two parts. At first, it sounds like a typical Matisyahu track... until you get to the end, which is drenched in Indian rhythms. Closer "I Will Be Light" mixes Matisyahu's usual combination of Jewish mysticism and reggae. That these four songs will be on the same disc is a bit jarring, since they're coming from a guy with a pretty specific sound. Hopefully Light will be more focused and less all over the place.