The New Amsterdams

Item: Para Toda Vida
Author: Travis Persaud

Para Toda Vida

(2002)

Reviewed by Travis Persaud

Discogs Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Vagrant RecordsDecapolisFebruary 2002

acoustic singer-songwriter

This is The New Amsterdams' follow-up to Never You Mind, released on Vagrant Records. Get Up Kids front man Matthew Pryor heads up this side project of sorts.

Have you ever experienced a dark cold winter night, with the snow falling and the wind blowing? A night that was so cold that the simple task of looking up to see where you were going froze your face, and sucked your mouth dry of any moisture that once was?

If you haven't, take this time to go someplace where this is possible, because you won't be able to fully appreciate what Matthew Pryor has produced on this round piece of plastic; ten songs stripped of everything you expected, producing the perfect "winter night album" released so far this year.

Compared to The New Amsterdams debut album Never You Mind, Para Toda Vida lacks. Now don't associate negative connotations with the word "lack." Para Toda Vida is simply more stripped down, as most songs contain just the raw passionate voice of Pryor, and an acoustic guitar, along with some other arrangements thrown in for good measure on a few songs. Most songs contain a very simple guitar pattern resonating in the air, letting you focus on the vocals and open lyrics.

"Son Of A Prophet" has to be, without a doubt, one of the best songs that have been released under Pryor's acoustic side project. All it contains is a simple picking pattern, a string arrangement playing softly in the background, and his voice in the forefront. To all those who believe intricacy and complexity equals a good song needs to take a look at this album; each and every song does not defy what is possible on the guitar. Pryor was able to take some simple, build on it slightly, and just used his voice to carry each song.

There isn't much more to say; a simple and stripped down album such as this does not need long-winded sentences to explain what is inside. This is a folk-pop album that delivers exactly when needed.

B-