“Matter of a Fact” is a collaboration between established music maker Graham Perry and musician-producer-engineer Brad Cole, and one coming from a very personal place. Former bandmates in the 1980s group Order of Silence, Perry and Cole, reunited at the funeral of their friend and fellow band member Ernie Aguilar, who was tragically murdered in Nashville. Out of that moment of loss came a decision: to finally make the record the band never recorded.
This single, the opening salvo of this eponymous album that many thought would never find its way into the public consciousness, hits the perfect sweet spot between country-rock grooves, rock-and-roll energy, and an indie finesse that adds an excellent buoyancy to the whole affair. Throw in a nice sheen of Hammond swells, understated guitar runs, superb gang harmonies, and a driving rhythm section, and it feels like there is nothing that they have left out.
And then you have the lyrics, a wonderfully down-to-earth take on unrequited love, that feeling of why him, why not me turned into a gentle anthem for all of us guys who didn’t get the girl, and I should surmise that there are a few of us kicking around.
A great tune, a great way to kick off an album, and it’s only a shame that it took such a sad catalyst to make it happen. But that is the way life goes sometimes.