Matt's a singer-songwriter of nearly a decade's standing and this 2011 collection is his first Christmas album. "Singer-songwriter" tends to create a mental picture of a scruffy guy or gal with an acoustic guitar, but Matt's the crown prince of pop, at least if this album fairly reflects his previous work. The title song from this collection is a perfect example of a perfect pop-rock Christmas record, heavy on the radio-friendly sheen. Unfortunately, a big chunk of the album is old-school pop of the Michael Buble-chasing kind, big-orchestra renditions of "Winter Wonderland," "White Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." "Sleigh Ride" and "Christmas Time Is Here" are instrumentals, the former for orchestra, the latter for solo piano. He also takes a solid crack at Amy Grant's "Tennessee Christmas," no lounge music here. Matt's on stronger ground with his originals, which include the excellent title song, "Wake Up Wake Up," and the ballads "Christmas in the City" and "Christmas Just Does This To Me." The song "Snow Globe" is absolute radio ear candy, the other originals are not bad, and the rest is pretty much interchangeable with the majority of pop Christmas music out there.
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