But in somerespects, it’s only with his newest CD, Light,that Matisyahu has become his own man on an artistic level, making a CD that hesays comes closer to fully reflecting the sound and range of music he wants tocreate.
“I sort ofbroke away from anyone who was telling me how to make music or what kind ofmusic to make,” Matisyahu says. “I just sort of went, ‘These are the kind ofbeats I want on the record. These are the people I want to write it with. Thisis who I want to work with.’”
To be sure,reggae and hip-hop continue to be at the root of many of the new songs. Forinstance, “I Will Be Light” is a pure reggae/dub song, while “Escape” leansheavily on hip-hop with its rapped vocals and skittering beat.
But Light also ventures well beyond thosestyles. “So Hi, So Lo” manages to be both graceful and hard-hitting with itsfusion of soul and rock. A bit of grand, symphonic pop sweetens the melody of“For You,” while the beat has street-level grit. “Motivate” and “Darkness IntoLight” bring a rock element into Matisyahu’s musical vocabulary.
The movetoward a wider-ranging sound hasn’t happened overnight for Matisyahu (hisEnglish-language name is Matthew Miller; Matisyahu is Hebrew for Matthew). Infact, his musical interests began to expand soon after his first CD was instores, when Matisyahu began touring and his band introduced him to new musicon their long van rides.
The music onLight wasn’t created overnight,either. After touring behind his second CD, 2006’s Youth, Matisyahu took a break from touring and began whateventually grew into a two-year process of writing and recording Light.
“I wanted totake the time with the record,” Matisyahu says. “I didn’t want to be rushed. Ididn’t want to sort of be in the middle of touring, then home for a week towork on the record and then go back out on tour and come back. That’s howthe Youth record was made, and it wastelling of the time. That time period of my life, that’s just how it was.Everything was on the run. And I wanted to make a more settled record.”
Now, thesongs on Light are helping Matisyahuachieve a goal for his live shows. He says that as he toured behind his firsttwo studio albums, and for his 2005 concert release, Live At Stubb’s, he found himself falling into the trap of tryingto deliver increasingly high-energy shows.
“I startedto notice that all of the songs at the end of the tour, all of the songs wouldbe about five [beats per minute] faster than when we started the tour and therecordings,” he says. “Every song was getting faster. And there was thisfeeling I’d get, sort of like herding cattle or something, like having to keepthis energy going at this high level all the time or else it’s not a goodshow.”
Morerecently, Matisyahu found himself wanting to create a more varied concert experience,both in mood and intensity.
“I really amway into the idea of having the orgasmic experience, the ups and downs, so [Iwant] more meditative moments, more quiet moments, just authentic moments,” hesays.
Matisyahu plays The Pabst Theater on Saturday,Oct. 31.
