When Matt Cardle rocked back on the scene again this year, all tousled hair and uncomfortable stares pitched somewhere between broody concern and desperate communication of a painful bowel syndrome, you would be forgiven for having completely forgotten he had ever existed in the first place. Having not released any new material since December 2010, one can only assume that the reason for Cardle’s retreat from the public’s consciousness was something to do with putting that little bit of extra elbow grease into Letters.
The problem is that all of it seems to have been poured into the construction of the suffocating wall of strings which feature on every track, which when combined with Cardle’s histrionic wail have the effect of desiccating all of the choruses. Every time a nice melody unfolds a piercing orchestral section emerges to hound it down.
It’s a shame the extra effort wasn’t diverted towards the song writing dimension of the album, which reveals itself to be somewhat threadbare as you realize that the sole theme of the album is the conveyance of sorrow for not being good enough for one’s love. This kind of puppy-eyed defeatism recurs on tracks ranging from lead single ‘Run For Your Life’ to swelling ballad ‘Faithless’.
It’s hard to criticize Letters as a whole because it’s not really different from anything anyone else who releases music in Cardle’s niche has ever produced. No edge, no hooks – just the same safe, middle of the road approach. In fact, the album so lacks in anything catchy or standout that by the time my first listen was over I had forgotten Matt Cardle all over again and I’m almost certainly going to try and ensure it stays that way.