One thing I can say about Matt Goldberg and beRnee is they are every bit of what they say they are; a piano smashing geek band. The band consists of Matt Goldberg who writes, plays (and I assume smashes) the piano/vocals, Nicole Weepers on drums/percussion/vocals, and Iain Gillaney on bass/harmonica/hats.
They are different to say the least. They state in their bio they were influenced by artists such as Ben Folds, The Whitlams, Coldplay, Fiona Apple, and the Foo Fighters. I can certainly hear most of these influences, but don’t really get the Foo Fighters reference. There is a hint of rock in all of their songs but I’d say this band leans much further towards the pop side of things.
I found them to be extremely listenable, all though they are not a band I would pay to go see. If I’m in the right mood I may put this EP in the CD player with other CD’s to “mix it up a bit”. Are they talented? Absolutely! They can certainly write and play music and there is certainly an audience out there for them. I’m just not someone you would find in that audience. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. A 56 year old dude from Texas is probably not their target audience in the first place. However, if I was walking down the street and heard this band playing, they would certainly catch my attention, and I’d stop and give them a listen.
This record is not without merit. Matt Goldberg has a good voice that is perfectly suited for his songs. The accompaniment of Iane Gillaney on bass, and on at least one tune, harmonica, and Nicole Weeper’s background vocals help the songs along. I especially liked the support of a small string and brass trio consisting of a cello, violin, and trumpet on Miss Busybody. It adds to the dramatic subject matter of the song. As Mr. Goldberg stated in his bio – “Everybody knows people who don’t have the time of day for you. They say, “I’ll call you” or “Let’s catch up sometime” in passing, but they don’t really mean it. Where has the honesty gone?” The other side of this tune is when the individual does try to make contact with us, we tend to make excuses and run away from them. Matt says maybe it’s just him, but I believe he’s probably right on target. We can all be hypocritical from time to time. This is a song about honesty and hypocrisy and it works.
The last song on the EP is a simple tune called Roll On. I believe this is the most carefully crafted song on the recording. It’s a song about not being afraid to go out on a limb to tell someone how you feel about them and possibly being rejected. To quote Mr. Goldberg, “It’s that slither of hope that we grasp onto that keeps us going.” This is mostly an acoustic tune, again accompanied by a small string and brass trio consisting of Annabelle Drought on violin, Allye Sinclair on Cello, and Josh Koop on Trumpet. The trio, along with Mr. Goldberg’s expertise on the piano, and Nicole Weeper’s excellent background harmonies, give this song strength, and in my opinion, is an ingenious way to end the EP on a very strong note.
I suppose what I like the most about Matt Goldberg and beRnee is they write about every day things, simple things, really, that most of us just tend to blow off. Matt Goldberg likes to capture these things in words and music and bring a good solid amount of drama to them, not in just his lyrics, but also in the cast of musicians he has assembled to play these songs with him, and they do it quite well. He’s also one hell of a piano player; as we like to say here in Texas, “he can sure pound them ivories!”
Reviewed By Rod Ames
