Matthew Good

“Born Losers”
from the album Hospital Music
2007
iTunes

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Matthew Good’s seventh studio release Hospital Music is based on a premise that no one would wish to be inspired by: Good’s overdose, spurred on by a nasty divorce and his ongoing battles with bipolar disorder. As a result, this disc is a dark, deeply intimate collection of music from a singer who has always been clever, but not always this lyrically direct. Sonically, Hospital Music is equally candid; opening track “Champions of Nothing” is a monolithic 9 and a half minutes of passion and processing in which keen-eared listeners can hear Good hyperventilating at the song’s end. “She’s In It for the Money” is as direct a journal entry as Good has ever penned, singing “I’m in love with your pills/ I tried to get rid of myself” in a voice shaking with passion. Smatterings of sound bytes throughout the disc–akin to whispers of madness–keep it hanging in a perpetual state of unsettledness. There are certainly classic Good tracks, including “99% of Us is Failure” and “The Devil’s in Your Details” while “Born Losers” — the first single — comes with a surprising country twang. Equally noteworthy is Good’s unique choices of cover tunes: “Moon Over Marin” a gorgeous take on a punk rock classic by the Dead Kennedys and the closing number “True Love Will Find You in the End” from Daniel Johnston, a musician who has himself struggled with manic depression throughout his life.