Punk, Balladry, Americana, Britpop, Metal and Folk – all are present and correct on this latest offering from Hull legend Matt Edible.

Release Date:  14^th February 2025

Label: Inedible Records

Formats: CD / Vinyl / Digital

MATT EDIBLE & THE OBTUSE ANGELS – A STEW OF MUSICAL STYLES

It’s taken a while, but Matt Edible & The Obtuse Angels have finally gotten around to following up on their successful 2018 debut album, Stargazing.  The seven intervening years between Stargazing and new album, The Optometrist, have been witness to changes in style and in personnel. But – Matt Edible & The Obtuse Angels are back and they’ve got a few things to say.

Matt Edible has been a linchpin of the Hull music scene for many years, either in the guise of Edible 5ft Smiths, The Holy Orders or with this latest incarnation.  Matt’s formative influences include Marc Bolan, David Bowie and the heart-searching balladry of John Grant. Each of those influences are clearly detectable in the nine tracks that constitute The Optometrist.  American alt-legend Josh T Pearson has described Edible as “The best thing out of Hull since the Humber Bridge.”

For The Optometrist, Edible (vocals, guitars, clarinet and sax) has co-opted the services of Sarah Shiels (bass and backing vocals) and John Andrew (drums) and has enlisted further help from guest vocalist Natasha Hodgson and pianist Matt Jone. Together, they’ve come up with something quite extraordinary. An intoxicating stew of musical styles that takes in elements of punk, grunge, glam, balladry, Americana, Britpop, heavy metal, folk and more.

BORN DURING LOCKDOWN

The Optometrist has its genesis during the COVID pandemic.  Edible spent time at home wondering how he could best approach a follow-up to the Stargazing album; he takes up the story: “That first record consisted of quite a lot of songs I had been wanting to record for many years.  They were songs that didn’t quite fir with my then band, The Holy Orders.  I started to wonder what the next record would sound like.  I started getting some ideas down and they sounded really good; I realized that this might actually be the way to make the record.  I had plenty of time on my hands, thanks to lockdown, and this felt like a great way to make use of it.”

THE OPTOMETRIST

The album’s title track gets The Optometrist off to a sharp, choppy start.  It’s a slice of tight, punchy punk, wonderfully urgent, and Edible’s optimistically determined lyrical message. “Things are getting better all the time – you have to crush the grapes to make the wine,” is the perfect fit for the upbeat music.  Things are calmer for Edible’s angry, slightly unhinged ballad, Cancelled (A Love For All Seasons). Lyrics like “I got so sick of hanging around with you and your f*ckwit friends” sit at glorious odds with Sarah’s dreamlike backing vocals.

Edible’s T.Rex inspiration is particularly evident for the excellent Mirror Shoes – an early album highlight.  Gritty guitars launch their attack from each speaker, whilst Sarah’s bass and John’s drums retain a solid position in the centre of the room. Edible’s vocals become more and more deranged as the song progresses, right up until he delivers his punchline: “These boots were made for stompin,’ so I’m gonna stomp all over you!”  We stick with a seventies influence – perhaps more Suzi Quatro than Marc Bolan, this time – for the hilarious, venom-rich Idiot. Edible’s series of rants that, perhaps, could only have originated in East Yorkshire in 2025 but, nevertheless, need to be heard all around this island of ours.

SURPRISINGLY SCHMALTZY

It starts life as a surprisingly schmaltzy affair, thoroughly at odds with its own no-holds-barred lyrical content but the epic Cat Piss soon takes on a metallic edge, before concluding with a challenging widescreen coda. Its companion track, the predictably-entitled Dogshit takes us into glam-punk territory.  The song’s opening line: “I can’t take any more of this – the whole thing stinks of cat piss” is guaranteed to grab the listener’s attention. Sarah’s bass seethes and bubbles, John’s drumbeat is sharp and Edible’s guitars riff freely as he delivers his lyrics with a gloating tone that lets you know that he isn’t taking himself too seriously.

Lead single, Triage has been described as: “…a tender, Lynchian dream of a song [that] tells a confused story of loneliness and despair against wandering arpeggiated guitars.”  The Bowie influence that comes across clearly. Edible’s voice is way up front in the mix, whilst his guitar jangles and John provides a solid, decisive, rhythm.  Speaking of the song, Edible said: “I’ve always wanted to produce something that might be considered as ‘soulful’ and I definitely think that’s the mood of this song.  Of course, it’s never quite that straightforward with my songwriting and it takes in some pretty weird imagery, but I think it all just about makes sense at the end.  Plus, I got to layer those saxophones on there.”

BRIGHT AND POPPY

Bright and poppy and built around a drumbeat that sounds quasi-military, follow-up single, Better Than Oasis, is probably my pick of the entire bunch.  It’s a love song (of sorts), inspired by Britpop and the Gallagher-referencing lyrics – “I’m better than Oasis when I’m with you.  We’re Be Here Now when we’re apart, but, together, we’re albums 1 and 2” are sheer genius.  Tinkly piano and splashes of trilling guitars provide the sweetening and Edible throws in a great guitar solo that pays due homage to that Noel bloke who inspired the song.

The Optometrist is brought to its conclusion with another epic.  Almost nine minutes in length, The Big Reveal is broody and slow-building in a way that reminds me of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain in its unremitting intensity.  Edible plays his clarinet and delivers what is, without doubt, the album’s most passionate and sincere lyric.  It’s dramatic, it’s intense and it’s the perfect climax to a singular album.

Watch the official video to Better Than Oasis – the most recent single to be taken from the album – here:

Matt Edible & The Obtuse Angels online: Facebook / Instagram / X (formerly Twitter) / YouTube / Bandcamp

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube