Never Said Goodbye - Cerys Matthews Album Review

Album Review

By the sound of things, Cerys Matthews has no intention of being pigeon-holed. Since her departure from Welsh anthemic popsters Catatonia, the former ladette has married with two kids, and taken serious control of her solo career.

It’s also rumoured she’s moving back to live in Wales, from the USA.

2003’s Cockahoop was a revelation and massive departure from her pop songs, as she flirted with country music.

Never Said Goodbye is a totally different ball game. Gone are the southern swampy influences as she goes off on a totally different tangent, with mixed results, principally because she’s still learning her craft as a songwriter. One thing remains: this is very much a Cerys Matthews album – unique, to the extent she’s passionately Welsh, which brings the inclusion of another beauty, final song Elen, sung in her native tongue.

Her new incarnation is probably due to the watchful eye of husband Seth Riddle. Now 37, Matthews’ singing remains as charmingly pubescent as ever- the innocence remains, though the lyrics are far more philosophical ; occasionally naïve. The songs are a combination of big sounding blasts which begging as low key, such as Oxygen, Open Roads. Then there’s her finest moments, like the hushed and intimate The Endless Rain, accompanied by gentle piano and strings, similarly with Blue Light Alarm with its choric blasts. Morning Sunshine is a close as she comes to Catatonia, with a more in your face chorus. It’s only serious low-point is the disastrous What Kind Of Man, while her vocals struggle to rise to the stirring composition.

It’s a far cry from being an out-and-out pop album because of the lack of hit single potential, but she comes close with the penultimate funky Ruby- a remixed version would do the trick.

It’s not an instantly likeable collection, but admittedly, it’s a real grower. It peaked at 43 in the official UK album charts, topped the Indie chart, now dropping to 7.

Elly Roberts