''Wicked System of Things'' is a 2018

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American

singer-songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk- acoustic tradition with a guitar, although this role has ...

Matthew Sweet Sidney Matthew Sweet (born October 6, 1964) is an American alternative rock/power pop singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the 1980s before gaining commercial success in the 1990 ...

Recording, release, and reception

Sweet recorded the songs for ''Wicked System of Things'' in his Omaha home studio in early 2017. He discussed the prospect of collaborating with

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...

members

Rick Nielsen Richard Alan Nielsen (born December 22, 1948) is an American musician who is the lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and leader of the rock band Cheap Trick. He is well-known for his numerous custom-made guitars from Hamer Guitars, including hi ...

and

Tom Petersson Thomas John Peterson (born May 9, 1950), better known as Tom Petersson, is an American musician who is best known as the bass guitar player for the rock band Cheap Trick. Career Before joining Cheap Trick, Petersson played in a number of bands ...

and wrote this music as an expression of his love of Midwest

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, ...

, but both musical acts were too busy to record together, so Sweet decided to put the songs to record himself and release it as a

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

exclusive in 2018. Sweet chose an apocalyptic title used by

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

and paintings of desolation, but the album content does not focus on dark themes. Writing in '' The Lincoln Journal-Star'', L. Kent Wolgamott opined that this album "doesn’t feel like scraps thrown together to put something out" but that "it’s an album that’s as strong and cohesive as its predecessors, which are Sweet’s best work in at least a decade".

Track listing

All songs written by

#"Alone with Everybody" – 2:51 #"Baby Talk" – 2:57 #"Electric Guitar" – 2:55 #"Good Girls Are Gone" – 2:46 #"Counting the Days" – 2:55 #"Eternity Now" – 3:25 #"The Biggest Lies" – 3:45 #"Flashback" – 3:31 #"It's a Charade" – 4:12 #"Backwards Upside Down" – 2:46 #"Split Mind" – 3:10

Personnel

– bass guitar, guitar, vocals,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, mixing,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

*Evan Carter – photography *Sean Magee – mastering at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

, London, England, United Kingdom *Ric Menck – drums *Dan Miggler –

art direction Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...

at Noiseland Industries *Harold "Abruzzi" Stephenson – back cover painting *John Stancin – inner gatefold painting *Jason Victor –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

*Robert Watson – front cover painting

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2018 albums Matthew Sweet albums Record Store Day releases Self-released albums Albums produced by Matthew Sweet

Recording, release, and reception

Track listing

Personnel

See also

References

External links