Matthew Bannister’s The Dark Backward reviewed

I once worked for a poisonous media organization (aren’t they all?) but there was one small but cheery consolation: the charming accent of the pretty receptionist, who had grown up in Gore. I don’t know whether Matthew Bannister’s vocal accent is Scottish (where he was born) or a Dunedin permutation (where he grew up) but his gentle burr is one of the more appealing virtues of his singing voice. It’s not a world-beating instrument but somehow it works, a humble voice for humble yet astute observational songs that always have their own charm, despite the odd sting in the tail.

One of the two singer/writers/leaders of the somewhat legendary Flying Nun group Sneaky Feelings, Bannister has become prolific since his move to the moo-cow capital of Aotearoa, Hamilton, and his releases, both under his own name and with The Changing Same (not to mention One Man Bannister) are all worth checking out.

The Dark Backward could be called a concept album, though progressive rock fans shouldn’t get too excited. There are no complex instrumental flights of fancy or epics here. In fact, all 15 tracks are conventional pop song length and conform to the familiar/traditional pop/folk template. That’s not to suggest that there’s nothing of interest here, however. The theme is time and its passing, though rather than Roger Waters’ jaundiced pronouncements on Dark Side Of The Moon (when he was still in his mid-20s!), Bannister comes at the subject as a 60-something. In fact, there’s even a song partly about being in his 60s, although it’s also about the 1960s, and wryly transposes the two.

One of the most appealing facets of Bannister’s writing is its simplicity and the clever way he wrings meaning out of curt couplets. ‘In The Beginning’ is especially moving, a piano ballad that takes us right back to the dawn of civilization to describe the wonder of existence versus the inevitability of failure in progress.

Musically, The Dark Backward is surprisingly eclectic. ‘Bad Time’ for instance, is strummy folk-rock, while the song that follows it, ‘Space And Time’, is practically psychedelic with an almost Martyn Phillipps meets early Pink Floyd feel to it. Speaking of the sadly late lamented Phillipps, while he was a pop culture fan-boy supreme, it’s fair to say that Matthew Bannister is our resident pop culture scholar.

If that occasionally leaves him at one step removed, there’s no real sign of it here. One of the most appealing facets of Bannister’s writing is its simplicity and the clever way he wrenches meaning out of curt couplets.

It’s perhaps the open-heartedness that makes these (and other) Bannister songs work so well. ‘Hearts Don’t Keep’ is a great example. “Hearts don’t sleep/They don’t take a holiday/Hearts don’t keep/You have to use them right away,” he sings. The song that follows it, ‘Midnight Explosions’, is quite filmic and bursts with wide-screen emotions. A song of images, and is another piece of surprising duality, where waking up to late-night fireworks quickly turns into a list of environmental apocalyptica.

Maybe the most surprising thing about The Dark Backward’s uniformly excellent songs is that they reveal Bannister not as some crabby, nostalgia-obsessed baby boomer but someone who is as emotionally vulnerable and intellectually curious as many individuals half his age, but with experience on his side.

Matthew Bannister and The Changing Same
The Dark Backward album release shows 

Sat 1st March 2025 8:00pm
Matthew Bannister and the Changing Same and The Doubtful Sounds
MOON, Wellington
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Tickets from Under the Radar

Sat 15th March 2025 8:00pm
Matthew Bannister and the Changing Same and Halcyon Birds
Nivara Lounge, Hamilton
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Tickets from Under the Radar

Sat 22nd March 2025 8:00pm
Matthew Bannister and the Changing Same and The New Existentialists
Cupid Bar, Auckland
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Tickets from Under the Radar