If you haven’t discovered Matador yet, then it’s time. Lori Yates is an artist (singer and songwriter) who hales from Oshawa-Toronto-Nashville-Hamilton and recently Toronto again. According to her website, she is a “pioneer of Alternative-Country.” And Matador, her much-anticipated new release, is replete with songs reflecting on a life of experiences -- love, friendship, struggle, survival and mortality.
It’s a very fine album, each song a small, polished gem. Or to mix metaphors, each is pared-down but not bare. Whether you focus on lyrics or melody or musicianship or how all those elements come together, the songs seem simple until they don’t.
“What a Life”is the opening track and from “We’re born with a spark / that illuminates the dark” to “I’d do it all again / With you as my friend” every line is perfect. The title song,“Matador,” is a wistful ode to the shuttered after-hours club in Toronto’s west-end. “Tear it down / Don’t tear it down / Don’t tear the grand old lady of Dovercourt / Don’t tear it down.” And in the slightly ominous “Three Sisters,” the singer pleads with Danger, Heartache and Sorrow – the sisters of the song’s title – to leave her alone.
These are songs with power and presence, songs that linger and return when you least expect. They intrude, you might say, but gently. A reminder that you want to listen again, to revisit that moving lyric, that beautiful melody, that awe-inspiring voice. Because as Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo has said, Lori Yates’ voice “is a gift”.
Whether you listen to music while making dinner or doing the dishes, driving to work or walking your dog, cleaning house on a Saturday morning or sitting down with the Sunday crossword puzzle – however or wherever or whenever, you really should "Meet me at the Matador."
— Margaret Watson is a writer who lives – and listens to country music – in Toronto. Her short stories have appeared in FreeFall Magazine, The New Quarterly, Prairie Fire and (now) The Fiddlehead. These stories and others make up a short story collection, Stalking, that is still in search of a publisher. She is currently at work on a longer piece of fiction with the working title, One Hundred Acres.
You can read Margaret Watson’s story “The Returning Wife” in The Fiddlehead Issue 301, Fall 2024. Order the issue now:
Order Issue 301 - Autumn 2024 (Canadian Addresses)
Order Issue 301 - Autumn 2024 (International Addresses)
