Nothing Else Is Half As Viable

The Matthew Herbert Big Band “The Yesness”

It seems like an understatement to say that “The Yesness” is an aggressively assertive song. The music is like a cartoonish temper tantrum, with a huge band and an incredibly forceful lead singer shouting, stomping and swinging around until they finally get their way. Matthew Herbert is indeed leading a full-on Big Band of sharp session players, but they aren’t quite enough for him — in addition to traditional Big Band instrumentation, he throws in loads of samples, buzzes, hums, and clangs. For the most part, this song and the rest of the numbers on There’s Me and There’s You have an old timey flavor, but the modern touches and deliberately odd or ugly textures keep the compositions strange and lively, particularly when he builds up to a glorious, colorful cacophony.

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