I came to Matt Berry later than a lot of people. I must have first become aware of him when a friend of mine gave me the DVD of Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place, then over the years I repeatedly noticed him in comedy shows like The Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd. Pretty much whatever he cropped up in he was a standout performer and underlined his talent. It wasn’t until six months ago that I really classed myself as a fan of his though. My girlfriend prompted me to watch Snuff Box, an obscure comedy series that Berry had collaborated on with fellow Boosh veteran Rich Fulcher. One of the highlights of the series were the regular musical interludes written by Berry. The more of the series I watched, the more I came to appreciate how great the music in the series was, nowhere more apparent than the theme tune to the series. One thing was plain to me. Matt Berry was not only a great comic performer, he was a quite brilliant writer and performer of music.
Kill the Wolf is Matt Berry’s most recent album and the second on which he has explored his interest in blending a heady brew of psychedelic and progressive folk. Given his background in comedy, you could be forgiven for assuming he doesn’t take his music too seriously.
You really couldn’t be more wrong.
Kill the Wolf is a homage to folk-flavoured prog rock. The spirit of 70s folk rock seems to weave its way through this album without overpowering Berry’s muse and while there’s a lightness of touch and gentle humour, at no point do you feel that Berry is playing strictly for laughs. Yes, there’s a light dusting of humour, but at no point does that take precedence over the music.
“Gather Up” opens the album with a cyclic pagan folk chant by a female choir with a distinctly Comus like feel to it that I have found to be the perfect soundtrack to harvesting the fruit and vegetables from your garden. Berry takes over lead vocals for “Devil Inside Me”, a deceptively catchy tune. Berry’s guitar and organ playing are strong features throughout Kill the Wolf, with both “Medicine” and “The Signs” being accomplished and wonderfully accessible tunes, however the apex of the album is “Solstice”, a nine minute plus epic that features a lengthy instrumental passage that compares favourably to the likes of Gentle Giant and Barclay James Harvest and has surprisingly enjoyed airplay on Radio 6 in recent months.
Musically I cannot fault Kill the Wolf. Berry plays a bewildering range of instruments and is backed throughout this album by a series of guest musicians, the chief among these being Cecilia Fage, who provides vocals and wind instruments throughout the album. Kill the Wolf has everything that I look for in an album, the musicianship is top-notch, Berry’s voice is compelling, as his sensitive and clear production. On top of all this is the fact that it doesn’t sound bloated and doesn’t outstay its welcome either. There’s a lot to be said for economy in psychedelic and/or progressive music and it’s an all too rare quality to be found in albums of those genres.
Kill the Wolf is a pretty, oddly commercial and beautifully realised album that works on multiple levels. On one hand it’s a genuine hand on heart homage to progressive and folk acts that evidently have a special place in Berry’s heart. On the other hand you could argue that it’s a skilfully realised parody in much the same way that Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick was in the early 70s – musically compelling, but at the end of the day still having a quiet and well meaning chuckle at those who take this type of music far too seriously. The fact that Kill the Wolf is both of these things simultaneously, is the result of an astonishing balancing act on Berry’s part.
If Matt Berry continues to make albums the quality of Kill the Wolf, his musical output may very well eclipse his comedy career in the not too distant future. With seven months of 2013 already behind us, this album is already a strong contender for my album of the year so far.
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