Gareth - 6/26/2012

The Tallest Man on Earth AKA Swedish singer/songwriter Kristian Matsson, I first set eyes upon in Spring 2011, on the Later.with Jools Holland. He performed a song named 'King of Spain', which I was immediately drawn in by, far more than the benign attempts of Liam Gallagher and is mock oasis band Beady eye. This album 'The Wild Hunt' is The Tallest Man on Earths second long player, released in 2010 and peaked at number 180 in the UK album chart. His first album was released in 2006 named 'Shallow Grave'.
In most interviews and write ups he is or has been likened to Bob Dylan both through his song writing and his vocal delivery and style. H admits this himself and states that Bob Dylan has been a large influence. There are certain songs on the album where this is more apparent than others such as 'Burden of Tomorrow'. There are some beautifully sung lines during this track, which could make the hairs stand on the back of your neck, such as "once I held a pony by it's a flying main" and "once I held a glacier to an open flame".
Whenever I listen to this album is makes me think of Autumn or the fall as some might say, falling, browning leaves, cold winds, warm sunlight and trees stripped bare, this is probably partly do to the front cover art and the lyrical imagery used by kristian on the album. The title and opener 'The Wild Hunt' is a beautiful song and sets the tone of the album with the opening lines "There is a crow moon coming in where you keep looking now, it is the hollow month of March now sweeping in" and chorus "I left my heart to the wild hunt acoming, I live until the call and I plan to be forgotten when I'm gone because I'll be leaving in the fall". 'Burden of Tomorrow', Troubles Will be Gone', 'You're going Back', 'King of Spain', 'Love is All', 'Thousand Ways', 'A Lion's Heart' and 'Kids on The Run' are all very strong songs, in fact I would say the only weaker number is 'The Drying of the Lawns'. But for me the first song I ever heard by The Tallest Man on Earth still remains in my opinion the best and strongest, which is 'King of Spain'.
The album as a whole has little in the way of instrumentation per track, mainly an acoustic guitar with accompaniment from a little banjo and a little piano. Musically the stand out track which is set apart from the rest of the album purely through its use of the piano as the main instrument is the last song 'Kids on The Run'.
This is a brilliant folk album with strong imagery, a very simple but beautiful offering.