REVIEW: MATCHBOX TWENTY - WHERE THE LIGHT GOES

3.5/5

Light The Match.

MB20 release an album one week after DMB! What is this? The 90s (our hairlines and guts wish)? When Matchbox 20's lead singer Rob Thomas had a summer 'Smooth' smash single with Carlos for the super successful Santana 'Supernatural' album like Dave Matthews' 'Love Of My Life'? Either way, in a day and age where we seem to be stuck in a cycle of negativity, it's nice to have some positivity again like this golden era music, no matter who thinks it's cornier than your snack draw. A time when we were Counting Crows on a Train, even if our Third Eye Was Blind to Semisonic like a Timberlake friend with benefits. Nostalgia we wish for like dreaming of R.E.M. so we can be 'Shiny Happy People' again, even if they hated that song with the B52's. Matchbox Twenty's first album in over a decade (since 2012's 'North') has a lot in common with the album ten years before that-'More Than You Think You Are' and its 'Hand Me Down' and 'The Difference' standouts-all the way down to the artwork. 'Yourself Or Someone Like You', their definitive debut, remains their signature classic out the matchbook in this 'Mad Season', but approaching their 30th anniversary, 20 give us a fresh new album with their fifth strike. 

'Where The Light Goes' is right here, and it shines on the favourite 'Friends' opener that will be there for you like your nearest and dearest. No rain will start to pour on this sunny parade. Yes, it's cheesy (so is this review), but it's feel good in a time when the long day feels like 3am. It's a good hallmark to be greeted with right now. Besides, it's not patronizing positivity, they know the pain After the out there opener for the Orlando, Florida act's grand return we are treated to the new single 'Wild Dogs (Running In A Slow Dream)' that keeps that same energy for these wild hogs. This Atlantic album is your new North as the 'Rebels' sing, "When you lose yourself/In photographs/And the room gets heavy/'Cause you can't go back to 16/Rainbow hair and ripped jeans", looking at faded youth in dark denim. This 'One Hit Love' and sure-fire single is not a one hit wonder though as Twenty know how to bring the good old day back, even if that decade is a drive or two in the rearview. 

Matchbox are always at their most mesmerizing when they slow things down though, and a trifecta of takes in that turn sandwich the album with its real filling, no album filler. 'Warm Blood' like a Norah Jones 'Young Blood' will really stir yours as the best of this set, handing itself down. Thomas is terrific, singing, "You got all your eggshells/Hidden underneath your stares/I've got my distractions to rеplace you/Oh, we act like thеre's a reason/Left for you to care/I act like there's some reason left to face you", bringing us break-up ballads sounding beautiful, but also, at their most brutal. Such is love and life like the crowning of the 'Queen Of New York City' that celebrates the one you put on the throne like a regal affair. "She says, "Man, I'm gonna leave this town/'Cause I got wings under my feet"/Then she tells you she gets vertigo/When she goes above 14th Street", this is classic Twenty, like yellow cabs and hot dogs on the steamy streets of NYC this summer. 

The album title track of 'WTLG' takes you even deeper, before MB20 'Hang On Every Word' and its "Don't let your falling stars blow out/No matter what you've heard/Don't let the rainy days/Cloud what you’re seeing/I know you're thinking that you've shown up/With so much you need to learn/But all you have to do is talk to me/And I will hang", sticking around with you devotion. But 'Don't Get Me Wrong' on the band's second single, it may have been a decade and some change, but they're still the same and here to stay. Rob Thomas may have become a solo star, but he knows where it was all set off from. 'I Know Better'? Nah! But this concept song does like a 'Man From The Magazine' for Haim. As Thomas plays master manipulator in character at a mansplaining song that feels like it's taking shots at DeSantis and the state of their Florida home.  "I will always know better/So I really don't see/A problem with knowing the answer/In the absence of those who agree/I've got access to information/That's very hard to find/So you must forgive me/For taking up your time/You see, I've done my research/A lesson should be taught/So when you tell me why you're right/I'll show you how you're not", Rob sings, sounding sinister in this subversive song. 

It's not all snake oil 'Selling Faith' though on an album you can believe in thanks to that classic conclusion and the penultimate perfect precursor in 'No Other Love' featuring the heart of Amanda Shires. The fiddler on the roof and The Highwomen country supergroup founder like a rock Boygenius with the talents of Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby and acclaimed artist of the moment Bradi Carlile. Taking it like a man, the boys are back in town with faith as we sing along, "You and me and all this love/Ring the bell til summer comes/Calling out from a long long way/We’ll hold it down for one more day/And when that day turns into night/We’ll dance with the devil in the pale moonlight" like The Joker of Jack Nicholson to Kim Basinger and Michael Keaton's Batman under a purple rain like Prince. Keaton and Tim Burton's classic character creation is unbelievably back in a flash this summer season in cinema. And when it comes to blockbuster music, one of the biggest bands are back to light the fuse like a 'Mission: Impossible' reckoning. Slide open the matchbox and strike the stick across the side, as you drop the needle on a record that crackles like a flame, Twenty are back, simple and plain. In the end, I guess they do make them like they used to. Let the light in and shine. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Wild Dogs (Running In A Slow Dream)', 'Warm Blood', 'Queen Of New York City'.