A trooper, a vagabond, a minstrel and an artist - over the
course of fifteen years and eight full-length albums as the lead
singer/songwriter for Chicago's Alkaline Trio, Matt Skiba has
been all of these things. Touring the world, heart on sleeve,
Skiba has consistently penned some of the great dark pop
anthems of the past decade. Now, after so many years as part
of the band that has come to define him, Skiba has stepped out
from the Trio to create Babylon, the debut album from MATT
SKIBA AND THE SEKRETS.
Babylon doesn't mark a major sonic departure from the infectiously
catchy, sanguine-stained tunesmanship Skiba is known
for. The songs are still cleverly-crafted and instantly memorable,
but the details of the tracks on Babylon are what separate
this album from all of his previous output. His independence
from the confines of a group dynamic allow the songs to
take flight, subtleties intact, and elevate the music from mere
songs to exquisite songcraft.
Teaming up with AFI's Hunter Burgan on bass and My
Chemical Romance's Jarrod Alexander on drums, Babylon
remains the creation of Skiba himself. "It's a band, but it's not
a band. It was great to have Hunter and Jarrod come in and
play. They are both great musicians and it was a thrill to play
with them. Everyone involved in the album breathed life into
the ideas, making them songs and giving those songs a foundation
that couldn't be stronger or more inspired."
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