Lorrie Matheson

During the past 12 years, Lorrie Matheson’s involvement in the Alberta music scene has garnered him praise and compliments. Matheson spent the past five years as part of Calgary band National Dust, but now he’s trying to move into the spotlight as a solo performer. He fares not too badly, all things considered. He’s obviously listened to quite a few Cracker records during his life because both his delivery and songs bear more than a passing resemblance to those of David Lowery. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing because there are many worse people to emulate. Yet he doesn’t share Lowery’s dark sense of humour and playful skill with words and there are quite a few occasions when his songs fall flat lyrically. Maybe it’s because some of these songs are more than a few years old, but this doesn’t feel like a step forward at all. Fans of National Dust will definitely not be disappointed by Matheson’s solo debut, but others might find You Should Know By Now frustratingly ordinary.