Matisyahu doesn’t look like the Jewish Bob Marley he once was after the of his newest album, Light.
He’s still the same orthodox Jew with the same messages of transforming darkness into light, improving the world and believing in God. But this time, he’s added mainstream guitar rifts, electronica, ska and classic pop to the mix in his latest album.
It’s been three years since Matisyahu released his last album, Youth. In that time, Matisyahu has grown both musically and lyrically, expanding from his hippie-Phish roots to a more accessible pop sound.
Matisyahu opens the album with the fast-passed reggae dance tune “Smash Lies.” Perhaps the most original track on the album, he sings, “Just get high/Nah there’s no need.”
After years of experimenting with marijuana and LSD while following popular jam band Phish’s tours, Matisyahu says he discovered the only high he needed was seeing spiritual light. Matisyahu follows Chassidic Judaism and has demonstrated the strength of his faith in this latest album.
His major single “One Day” resembles familiar reggae tunes with positive, free-spirited lyrics. He declares, “All my life I’ve been waiting for/I’ve been praying for/For the people say/That we don’t wanna fight no more/They’ll be no more wars/And our children will play/One day.” Matisyahu is the ultimate optimistic Chassid, hoping for messianic peaceful times.
Throughout the album, he continues the motif of light. In “I Will Be Light,” a slow pop hymn, Matisyahu declares, “Burn away the darkness/I will be light.” Likewise, in the hard rock electric tune “Darkness into Light,” he reinforces the message. Meanwhile he declares himself “king with [a] broken crown,” alluding to his smash-hit “King Without a Crown.”
Matisyahu’s stand-out song on the album is the catchy reggae tune, “On Nature,” where he raps alongside a children’s choir. He declares himself and the Jewish people simply as “just children of beliefs.”
Despite the mainstream twist, Matisyahu remains a religious Jew and a reggae sensation.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sara Fruman at Sara.Fruman@colorado.edu.
