Album Review: Matt Terronez — 'Tell Me A Story'

Matt Terronez wants to tell you a story — one of true love, heartbreak and conflicted feelings. It plays out across the 10 tracks, or perhaps chapters, of his debut solo album, Tell Me A Story. But make no mistake, this is anything but the start of Terronez’s story, or his music career.

Terronez came to the Midwest music scene in the ’80s as a member of Des Moines-based Night Flight, a dance and Top 40-style band, which earned him a place in the Iowa Rock ‘n Roll Music Association Hall of Fame. After over 40 years performing in Iowa under various monikers and breathing new life into classic songs, it was high time for the musician to release an album, honing those rich tapestries of tales for a new, personal chapter.

To fully grasp the storied career Terronez brings to his first solo effort, you only have to look as far as the extensive credits of vocal and instrumental guest appearances that represent a significant portion of central Iowa career musicians. From a vast array of solos on instruments like the flugelhorn (Dave Kobberdahl), wind synthesizer (Dave Bohl) and congas (Vince Valdez), to the background vocal stylings of Andrew Hoyt and Kathryn Fox, Terronez constructs a glittering throwback to jazzy ’80s rock with flashes of blazing yacht rock and sumptuous soul.

The instrumentation practically floats from track to track, with the kind of polished production that feels akin to a convertible on a windy road or turquoise waters lapping at a boat deck; brassy saxophones and fizzy synths cut straight through a sonically constructed, steamy summer day. Tell Me A Story’s ability to maintain that overarching atmosphere makes the wide-ranging genre shifts all the more impressive. Terronez’s vocals call to mind the crooning vibrato of Elvis Costello’s ballads, stretching across shades of Doobie Brothers smooth soul, horn stylings of Steely Dan’s Aja, Joe Jackson’s eclectic jazz rock and even bits of bossa nova style guitar. Every musical decision, flourish and guest feature adds to the narrative’s dulcet tones.

But above all, the story Terronez hopes to be telling is a fairytale — bolstered “with once upon a time” and tied up in a “happy ending” on the title track. It’s besides the point if that story is based in fact or fiction, as the musician, lyricist and composer puts it: “There’s no harm in pretending.” In many ways, there’s a feeling of escapism in making an album rooted in the contemporary rock that once ruled the airwaves, and that sentiment translates to the album’s lyrical themes.

The slow bluesy track “Too Much TV,” with its throaty guitar solos from Craig Erickson, gets playful by injecting titles of classic sitcoms, whereas the funkified “Eyes of a Child” yearns for innocent, simplistic ways of seeing the world. Even within the wispy flute solos and salsa rhythms of “Like Picasso Used to Do,” the narrator yearns for complicated emotions and relationships to be broken down into the abstract, unraveled style of the painter — even if the result is still brokenness and a not-so-happy ending.

Weaving together hooky choruses and melodic, psychedelic harmonies, Tell Me A Story’s end result is altogether storybook-charming, hitting all the right notes of nostalgia for a free and easy off-duty escape.