Cities Filled With Lights

Album Review

If Tori Amos were reincarnated as a man in the next life, she might end up sounding something like Matt Schickele — a singer/songwriter with a taste for the abstract and the cerebral. Like a lot of Amos' work, Cities Filled With Lights doesn't go out of its way to be accessible. Musically, Schickele's alternative pop/rock tends to be dissonant and angular; avant-garde jazz has influenced his melodies, and it is quite appropriate that Knitting Factory (a company known for the avant-garde) distributed this Feldspar release. Schickele's reflective, contemplative lyrics, meanwhile, are as left-of-center as his melodies and vocals — in contrast to someone like David Bowie (who is a master when it comes to combining complex, challenging lyrics with direct and immediate hooks), Schickele is abstract on all levels. But if you're adventurous enough to go along for the ride, this CD has a lot going for it. Cities Filled With Lights isn't perfect — at times, Schickele (formerly of the New York alt-rock combo Beekeeper) is too self-indulgent for his own good. But he hits his mark more often than not, and the album's best songs (which include "Little Machines" and "Enemies Like Enemies") paint an attractive picture of the Brooklyn native. That is, if you give them a chance. This isn't an album that offers immediate gratification; like a lot of the avant-garde jazz artists who have influenced him either directly or indirectly, Schickele only offers rewards to those who are willing to approach his music with an a sense of adventure and a very open mind. Cities Filled With Lights demonstrates that Schickele is an artist who must be accepted on his own terms.