Matthew Leonard has taken us to Queens; now he’s taking us to Yonkers. Along the way, his train has stopped in Brooklyn, and somehow in Maine, and even a made few pit stops in middle America. Wherever this multi-instrumentalist songwriter/producer means to steer us, we end up going indoors. Lost in Yonkers, like all of Leonard’s output since his days with The Dales, is bedroom pop, albeit produced with a surer hand than most home recording. His use of vintage analog equipment creates a rich sonic tapestry for his neo-psychedelic musings.
Matthew Leonard’s music welcomes you in, sometimes with a broad, beaming smile and sometimes with a demented grin. He’s got a warm, friendly voice, like that of a less-affected Brian Ferry, whispering and groaning over an increasingly peculiar range of instruments: Lost in Yonkers relies heavily on harpejji and optigan.
Yonkers clearly represents the demented side of life—appropriately so, for what is clearly a COVID quarantine album. Beginning with the optimistic opener, “Pick Yourself Up Off the Ground,” the songs on the album ditch the usual verse-chorus format for a mantric repetition and repositioning, creating sonic riddles. What does Leonard mean by “give away”? Charity or mortality? Or have the words stopped meaning anything and turned into pure sound?
This is the music of a man cooped up for a long time and talking to himself as he climbs the walls. Even the sped-up (or does it just FEEL faster? Is it just the bizarre phrasing?) cover of Vampire Weekend’s “Harmony Hall” sounds jittery and close. This isn’t Ezra Koenig’s wedding reception: the intimate room is cluttered with discarded shoes and stuffed coatracks. All corridors lead to the kitchen, where the conversation is smart and the coffee is strong.
The album follows its jittery course, a close interview with an intelligent man who’s been indoors too long. Leonard shares his good humor and grace and only glancingly alludes to the universally looming fear and discomfort. In the end, Yonkers lets us onto Leonard’s back porch to breathe as Prince meets George Harrison in the smoldering “Get Free” and a nicely stretched-out harpejji treatment of Spoon’s “Inside Out.” Matthew Leonard may be muttering to himself a lot, but he’s still talking to us, thank God. It turns out Yonkers is a nice place to visit. Now, how the hell do we get home?
--Dan Kilian
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