Music Review: The Tallest Man on Earth

Last night, I had the opportunity to check out The Tallest Man on Earth at Mershon Auditorium. The performers of the night, which includes opener, Strand of Oaks, played on another stage, on the main stage, while the audience stood on about 3/4 of the main stage. Singer, Kristian Matsson AKA The Tallest Man on Earth even said that after he finished his show, he planned to go home and practice his guitar to one day play the auditorium. The setting was dim, with lights hanging from the ceiling, which made me feel like I was at some exclusive backyard party, and was surprisingly quite intimate for a sold out show.

Walking on stage to a delightful recording of just a man singing in Swedish and a piano, the concert started. Not knowing a lot about his music, I went to the show with an open mind, only hearing things from friends and the songs I listened to on Spotify. When he sings, it doesn’t seem as if that voice should come out of his body. In between songs, he simply said “thank you very much” in a deep voice, and then began to play the next song.

He seemed to catch his groove at the third song, and the crowd stood basically still as if listening to a peacemaker in a time of war. Due to his style of guitar playing, each phrase was intricate and well thought out. There wasn’t ever a time where I felt something was out of place, or a note sounded wrong. There were many nods to nature in his lyrics. I picked out mountains, meadows, and jasmine. Even a lyric in the song “Love is All”, he sings “I walk upon the river like it’s easier than land” solidifies his tie into nature. I tried to think of a genre, because people love genres, to put The Tallest Man on Earth, and I came up with Americana-prairie-indie-rock. It’s not exactly indie. Because of the intricacies of his music, just putting him into just the indie genre doesn’t do his music any justice.

His set promptly started at 10, and at 10:21 I made a note that I checked my twitter. I listened more, and then check my Facebook at 10:37. He played couple of songs after his set ended for an encore, and the crowd definitely enjoyed themselves. I did make a note about how naturally talented this one man band is, but I also wonder how adding a full band would make him that much better.

There are many comparisons to Bob Dylan, which isn’t completely accurate since I could understand Matsson, but in some songs I could sense a little John Mellencamp if he didn’t smoke.

There were slight aspects of country in some songs, but somehow those slight characteristics were enough to turn me off. Not saying that I would ever pass upon seeing The Tallest Man on Earth again, I just won’t go out of my way.