College Times

Media Credit: Ben Goetting

You get the feeling that Matt Pryor doesn’t like to be tied down to any one genre. He owned the pop-punk world as the lead singer for the snappy, surprisingly-influential The Get Up Kids until its demise in 2005. Overlapping that run, he was a member of the still ongoing The New Amsterdams, which has garnered both critical acclaim and a massive fan base with a more stripped down, decidedly more emotional approach. He even has a hand in producing children’s songs on If You Ever See An Owl, a charming album released under the band name The Terrible Twos, an “alter ego” of The New Amsterdams.

So, it doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise that Pryor’s first solo release Confidence Man is, to borrow a line from Monty Python, something completely different.

It’s a bit folk – if only for the acoustic guitar, tinges of twangy banjo and harmonica – but it doesn’t possess any degree of world-weariness.

It largely steers clear of the “emo” trap set by razor-toothed critics, avoiding standards and clichés in favor of genuinely honest storytelling.

It really is quite difficult to pigeon-hole Confidence Man in any one genre: perhaps “good’ is the only label that’s truly needed.

With the exception of “I’m Sorry Stephen” and “Where Did I Go Wrong,” both filled with a measure of sadness and regret, the album floats along on airy acoustic ditties like a wispy cloud. That’s probably the album’s greatest achievement: zero clunkers.

Pryor’s distinctive tone – a bit nasal, but rarely grating – may not jive with classic folk aficionados. And the lack of uptempo tunes may not sit well with anyone foolishly lingering in hopes of a Get Up Kids reunion.

But Pryor most assuredly doesn’t care about any of it, and has quite the pretty album to show for it.

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