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Dec 12, 2013 Issue #48 - November/December 2013 - HAIM By Dan Lucas

Opening with a softly drifting acoustic guitar reminiscent of Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic,” Trust—Matthew Daniel Siskin’s first full release under the Gambles moniker—immediately suggests itself to be a Jake Bugg-esque record that’s most likely to appeal to a small, slightly uninterested early evening crowd at one of the more family-friendly festivals. “I wanna sing to you, if that’s all right?” he croons.

Such dismissal, and indeed the Bugg comparison, are ill-deserved, though. Trust is easily the most beautifully sparse record you’ll hear this year. With just a voice and acoustic guitar throughout, it’s admittedly one-paced over the 44-minute running time, but among the contemporary plethora of singer/songwriters, Gambles deserves attention.

Written to the backdrop of Siskin and his wife losing a child, the starkness of the album emphasizes its bleak and gut-punching tragedy. “The moves you make alone/To bring him ‘round again,” he sings on “Penny for a Grave”; there’s a somberness to these lines that echoes an early Leonard Cohen. Now there’s a singer/songwriter comparison that’s deserved. (www.soundcloud.com/whoisgambles)

Author rating: 7/10