Website © 2003 by Tyler Carey
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The Gunshy
No Man's Blues
Latest Flame Records, 2004

by Dr. Christian Carey

While some of his material and live dates involve the assistance of a full band, The Gunshy is singer-songwriter Matt Arbogast's baby. If ever there was a vocalist who sounded similar to Tom Waits, it's Arbogast, who rasps, warbles and howls at the moon with reckless abandon. But make no mistake - Arbogast is his own man. His songs wield tattered pipes over a more indie pop and synthetic sounding musical material than Waits has usually traversed throughout his career.

When Arbogast sings an emotive ballad, such as "Breakin' Some Bad Habits," it usually isn't with the consciously over-the-top demeanor that Waits adopts (never letting you know just how much of his tongue is planted firmly in his cheek). Even when Arbogast inhabits dystopian terrain, as on "I Will Die Alone," there is a poise-filled resignation that helps to make his material's depressive landscape seem genuine and hard won instead the usual songwriter hyperbole. He is also able to angrily rock out, on songs such as Congratulations: "I don't blame these haunted nights on you. No, I knew them before you brought some hope to broken bones and were my favorite s----y metaphor."

Arbogast has the angst thing down in a way that thousands of mascara-wearing wannabe Goth kids and crying-in-their-beer cowboys wish they could approach. That said, I like him best on "Dead End," where he's grooving to a faux eighties pop hook, singing about asking a friend to return his ex-girlfriend's books for him. No Man's Blues mixes old and new in a bittersweet musical metaphor for the post-millennial multiplicity of cultural perspectives. In other words, Arbogast's finding many new ways of singing about old truths. I, for one, am excited to hear where he's headed next.

-December 23, 2004