Crys Matthews - Reclamation
Bee Dolores fills us in on Crys Matthews' brave, generous album Reclamation
These are trying times. As we brace for what comes next, Crys Matthews drops her earnest, masterful, and irrefutably vital album, Reclamation. Stitched with intricate details about civil unrest, blasphemous religious beliefs, and racism, the artist’s latest record documents America at this moment in time. She bottles up what life is like in this country, open wounds and all, and urges the listener to question, challenge, and reassess.
“The difference between me and you is we’re as country as we want to be without all the hate and bigotry,” Matthews proclaims with the groove-laced opener. “The Difference Between,” which features Chis Housman and Melody Walker on background vocals, cracks open the album with a potent, pointed message about the morals she gleaned from growing up in Richlands, North Carolina. She reclaims the South as a wholesome place, scratching out the hatred as something unconditional to where someone grew up.
The same goes for religion, as evidenced with the essential cut “Like Jesus Would.” Matthews cuts through the noise and rediscovers faith within a building that she’d “be met with open arms,” she observes. “Folks bringing the good news with open minds and open hearts.” She notes the flying of Pride and Black Lives Matter flags out front before remarking that “if Jesus came back now, half the Christians in this country would try to crucify him somehow.” Those words hang in the air. During an era when Christian extremism plagues this country, Matthews strips away the rotten outer layers for the truth buried six-feet deep.
Two other crucial puzzles pieces to Matthews’ story of self lies in the absolute stunner “My Skin,” in which she etches out the fear of existing in her own skin, and “Suit and Tie,” a salute to the trans experience, as well as her own identity as a butch lesbian. Each building block serves the greater overarching theme of reclamation and the various forms that it exists within. For her part, her songwriting is specific enough for her to sink her teeth into it yet broad enough to appeal to a vast collection of today’s listeners. Finding oneself reflected back in the music we listen to proves significant to the experience of Reclamation.
“There’s a whole lot in our culture we could cancel if we tried,” she remarks in another key moment. “Cancel Culture” sees Matthews assembling things we could easily cancel, such as gerrymandering, white-washing history, and telling little boys not to cry. Such a bold, resolute mission feeds into the singer-songwriter’s mission to “drive out the darkness with the light.”
That hits at the very essence of Crys Matthews’ Reclamation. It’s unapologetic, confrontational, and urgent. She speaks from her heart, one brimming with compassion and understanding, and dresses even the hard-hitting songs with an air of kindness. But make no mistake, she swings her words like an anvil. With such a critical eye, she offers intentions for this country that point to just one thing: let’s burn it all to the ground and rebuild. It’s time.
