Pitchfork has weighed in on the new Matisyahu EP, No Place to Be, and it’s not pretty.
The big problem is Matisyahu’s voice, a flat, weedy simulation of Barrington Levy’s honeyed scatter-croon. He floats between singing and chatting without ever mastering either, and there’s precious little vigor or conviction in his washed-out tenor. His band, the abysmally named Roots Tonic, pretends that the past 20 years of reggae never happened, anchoring themselves firmly in lite-lover’s rock UB40 territory and letting their spit-shined lilt amble on without force or direction.
Luckily, at least, the review creates a new Jewish denomination along the way, referring to Matisyahu’s background as “Reformist.”
