(Matisyahu the reggae artist was born Matthew and raised in a minimally religious household, and only took the name "Matisyahu" when he converted to Hasidism, actually.)
I liked "King Without A Crown" a lot when I first heard it, but the more of his music I listened to the more I felt like it did, after all, mostly tend to fall into the trap most religious rock does: taking "religious" too seriously, and "rock" not seriously enough. He doesn't have quite enough things to say to fill out an album, and he doesn't have quite enough musical chops to keep all (or even most) of the songs exciting beyond one or two listens. He's talented and earnest, but can't quite sustain the quality; the Globe recently reviewed his new album, Youth, by saying that its title was apropos.
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I liked "King Without A Crown" a lot when I first heard it, but the more of his music I listened to the more I felt like it did, after all, mostly tend to fall into the trap most religious rock does: taking "religious" too seriously, and "rock" not seriously enough. He doesn't have quite enough things to say to fill out an album, and he doesn't have quite enough musical chops to keep all (or even most) of the songs exciting beyond one or two listens. He's talented and earnest, but can't quite sustain the quality; the Globe recently reviewed his new album, Youth, by saying that its title was apropos.
It would be nice to see him get better, though.