No Excuse For A Cheap Suit - Sunrise, Sunset

No Excuse For A Cheap Suit

Sunrise, Sunset
No Direction Records; 2013

3.5 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Matthew Charles is the man behind the acoustic project called No Excuse For A Cheap Suit. He released two records under the moniker before releasing his latest entitled Sunrise, Sunset. There are five songs on this release and not one goes over two and a half minutes. Additionally, all the songs are sparse and combine just his vocals and guitar.

I would hesitate to call Charles a singer/songwriter because I subconsciously associate the term with someone who writes finger ballads that sound almost uncomfortably intimate at times. Charles essentially writes punk songs more akin with The PIxies, Minor Threat and Mudhoney than standard material you might expect from a guy who is playing acoustic music. 

The recording quality is decent and could be improved but works well with the punk aesthetic. Very few if any overdubs were recorded and no noticeable effects were used, which only adds to some of the allure of the record.

The first song is called “Sunrise” and feels like it’s over before it begins as the total running time is a minute and twenty-five seconds. While the running time is shorter than an intro to a post-rock song he packs a lot in. He manages to find time for a verse and a chorus and he plays at a fast BPM. His voice resonates with a nasally punk quality that fans of the genre should gravitate towards. One of the highlights of the album is an appropriately named punk song called “Watch It Burn.” A jangly guitar is aggressively played as he sings “Tensions explode / What's good is overturned / I'll sit back and watch the city burn. “

Charles talks about issues he has with growing up on “Young Boy” while declaring his opinions about the adverse ramifications of a homogenized society on “Think The Same.”

The songs are solid on this album but in no way earth shattering. Charles plays short punk-inspired acoustic songs that utilize basic chord progressions. It’s worth your time to give it a spin.

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