Winter Child

Most artists try to hook an audience with strong material at the beginning of an album, hoping listeners will stick around through a relatively flat middle section before ascending again to leave a good final impression. Matt Duke, however, seems to favor an alternative approach. The first five tracks of Winter Child are quite ordinary, with nothing in the writing, singing, or arrangements to distinguish them from thousands of other singer/songwriters hopefully touting their wares. Then, just as you lose heart, comes "One Small Bird." It's a song that wears its vulnerability broadly on its sleeve, but for that very reason it remains endearing. After that, "Listen to Your Window" brings in a neat atonality to shake things up, and the title cut feels like real energy was expended -- there's a kick of passion about it. It's not all smooth sailing from there -- "Ballroom Dancing" is a bit of a yawn, but the wonderfully titled "Taxidermy & the Skiffle Explosion" draws its guitar playing from the Bert Jansch fake book tempered by Windham Hill (and quite neatly, too, although the piano and voices are a touch of overkill), making for a tasty instrumental. There's a languid quality about the closer, "To Whom It May Concern," that's appealing, too. So it's not a great album -- there's too much filler. But it would make a superb EP, and it's worth sticking around for the extra track, too.