Mat Brooker – Ocean City Sounds

Soulful gypsy flamenco guitar comes pouring out of Mat Brooker’s hands into his second album “Ocean City Sounds”.
The mood ranges from joyous to reflective, with an emphasis on expressive, passionate playing.
This fusion style of playing is loosely at home in the Nuevo flamenco genre, incorporating strong Latin & flamenco influence alongside jazz & world.

Review by John Williams

Mat Brooker hails from Port Macquarie hence the CD title.
His Spanish flamenco style of playing is superb.
He is a real master of his instrument.
Apparently at the 2014 Illawarra Folk Festival he was hailed as the “Jimi Hendrix” of the Spanish guitar.
That is high praise indeed but after listening to the CD a few times I can see where the quote came from.
I wish I could play like that!
The twelve tracks on the CD are all self composed and range from the quiet and beautiful ‘One Star Hymn’ and ‘Mirror to the Sky’ through the melancholy ‘Song of the Last Whale’ to the lively ‘Animalrythm’.
‘Rum Club’ is another lively track which I enjoyed immensely.
‘A Thousand Raindrops’ really shows Mat’s dexterity.
Talk about moving fingers!
Mat has travelled and developed his style of playing over the years and this CD is the culmination of all that effort.
He has created a wonderful body of work in this CD.
If you are a fan of high quality guitar music, (and who isn’t?) then you would enjoy having this compilation in your collection.
Highly recommended.