Standing tall against the grinning, caffeinated faces that comprise Koffee? on Audubon’s celebrated, off-kilter photo gallery, An Historic (a.k.a. Adam Matlock) paused, double checking the midset minutiae of a coffee-shop gig. The set list rested at his feet. He placed his fingers on the glinting, slippery keys. A water bottle was in sight, to fight the recent onset of a winter cold.
He paused, pulling lightly at the edges of his plaid shirt. Then he looked back up at the audience, a crowd of around 25 people who had gathered on the cafe’s well-loved couches and piled into its main room, ready to listen.
”I expect you to sing along with this one,” he joked.
A deliciously smooth tumble of lyrics came flying from his mouth. First tentative, then hopeful, members finally joined in, a chorus of “Ain’t got it bad / didn’t finish last / Ain’t got it bad / This storm will pass,” bubbling up around the room as An Historic stopped playing the keyboard, raised his hands triumphantly above his head, and began to clap along. Polite whoops travelled around the dim room as the song ended. At the tail end of the holiday break, everyone had suddenly come home.
Lucy Gellman Photos
At least that’s how Matlock made attendees feel Sunday night, when he delighted and surprised with a fresh set at Koffee? on Audubon, as part of the cafe’s new live music series Koffee? Unplugged.
What makes his music so immediate, so cravably unique, is its honesty. Matlock has no interest in lyrics that aren’t, it seems, of interest to him first, and his work — and audience — benefits wildly from it. During the hour-long set, he played vocal four-square, hopping genres, decades, and inspirations with adeptness, fingers working furiously and without pretension as he took listeners through the weird and wacky, heartbreaking and lustful. When he belted “Now I see the fire in your eyes,” or “you’ll be Antarctica and I’ll be the ice,” listeners were right there with him, reveling in the delicious unpolish of Matlock’s music, willing itself into being.
