All four songs from Matt Hires' first EP, Live from the Hotel Café, make additional appearances on his full-length debut, which expands the songwriter's acoustic sound into something slick and polished.
As before, the quaver in Hires' voice is both endearing and somewhat maddening, veering toward the latter whenever it disappears and reappears at will.
Songs like "Listen to Me Now" effectively mask that vocal tic with sheer energy, however, and Sara Bareilles lends her harmonies to "You in the End," smoothing out her novice friend's voice while providing some commercial star power.
Take Us to the Start sounds best at its most brisk, when Hires trades the coffeehouse aspirations of his slower songs for something more akin to driving, mainstream pop/rock.
The bulk of this debut album is filled with semi-ballads, though, whose leisurely pace allows Hires more room to indulge a bit too heavily in the influence of his Hotel Café contemporaries.
As such, Take Us to the Start is an average singer/songwriter album from 2009, good enough to maintain a loyal fan base but lacking the unique quirks of Ingrid Michaelson and Meiko.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honey, Let Me Sing You a SongMatt Hires, Gregg Wattenberg | Matt Hires | Play | 04:08 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | State LinesMatt Hires | Matt Hires | Play | 02:49 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | A Perfect DayGus Black, Matt Hires | Matt Hires | Play | 03:42 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | Listen to Me NowMatt Hires | Matt Hires | Play | 03:00 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | You in the EndSara Bareilles, Matt Hires | Matt Hires | Play | 03:59 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Turn the PageMatt Hires | Matt Hires | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | O SunriseMatt Hires | Matt Hires | Play | 04:08 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | Pick Me UpMatt Hires, Harry Shannon | Matt Hires | Play | 03:47 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | You Are the OneMatt Hires | Matt Hires | Play | 03:26 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | Out of the DarkGus Black, Matt Hires | Matt Hires | Play | 04:07 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 11 | Tangled WebMatt Hires | Matt Hires | Play | 04:57 | 11 MB | 0 MB |
| 42 mins | 96 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sara Bareilles | Composer, Vocals (Background) |
| 2 | Gus Black | Composer |
| 3 | Kristie Borgmann | Art Manager |
| 4 | Matt Chamberlain | Drums |
| 5 | Chris Chaney | Bass |
| 6 | Matt Hires | Composer, Crowd Noise, Guitar (Acoustic), Primary Artist, Vocals, Vocals (Background), Whistle (Human) |
| 7 | Stephen Marcussen | Mastering |
| 8 | Lesley Melincoff | A&R |
| 9 | Gregg Nadel | A&R |
| 10 | Chris Reynolds | Digital Editing, Engineer, Percussion |
| 11 | Reid Rolls | Photography |
| 12 | Harry Shannon | Composer |
| 13 | Nicole Simon | Production Coordination |
| 14 | Chris Stang | Marketing |
| 15 | Aaron Sterling | Drums |
| 16 | Carolyn Tracey | Package Production |
| 17 | Gregg Wattenberg | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |