"If Matt Arbogast's debut as the Gunshy wasn't enough to catapult him into the storytelling ranks of Destroyer's Dan Bejar and Silver Jews' David Berman -- those kings of self-referential literariness -- his sophomore LP, Souls, will."
-Julia Simon, Spin Magazine Staff
I met Matt Arbogast in October of 2004. I remember because it was a few days before my Grandfather passed. My roommate and I headed down to see some friends of friends' band play and the Gunshy (myspace) was opening.
Every once in a while you see someone who is so good live you forget there's not a full band behind them. You forget that there's a beer in front of you. You forget to breathe. The Gunshy (this particular time: Matt by himself) managed to deliver one of these evenings to me.
I didn't realize I enjoyed the music as much as I did until I noticed that I wasn't breathing while he was playing. His lyrics were so powerfully descriptive while remaining humble. His chordal structure kept me wanting more. This was his "No Man's Blues" tour. I fell in love with the music immediately.
Near the end of the show, Matt asked if there was a floor or couch available to him for the evening. My roommate and I offered to have him crash with us as I bought as much of his stuff as my cash flow would allow.
We treated Matt to a frozen burrito and let him crash on one of the three couches in the living room. It wasn't much, but he was kind enough to trade with stories from the road. We had a pleasant evening passing around tales and sharing some laughs.
In the morning, we left for class and work and Matt had moved on when we returned. I still have the note he left thanking us for our hospitality. If I had a scanner, I'd put it up.
The point of all of this is that he is back on the road again for a long tour. Like he frequently does. There have been albums released since then. You should all go see him perform. It's a fantastic experience.
Without further ado, here's the Gunshy:
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