Mat Kearney
Nothing Left to Lose
(Aware)
When did Chris Martin go solo? On Nothing Left to Lose, Mat Kearney takes his one-man Coldplay sound to the masses. The generic DoppleMartin tracks are decent but the album tanks when Kearney opts to channel Everlast and his folk-based hip-hop sound. “Undeniable” and “Bullet” shimmer with the promise of something greater, but for the most part the remaining tracks run too long. An ounce of direction employed here could have made a viable album in the adult contemporary market. Unfortunately, this is the musical equivalent of quicksand: it bogs the listener down and goes nowhere fast. Radio-friendly pop emulation does not a good album make.
—Trevor Savory
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.