What'S The Matter, M Ross?

Description

What’s the Matter, M Ross, the idiosyncratic M Ross Perkins’ third album, released in May 2025, takes him on an inner journey, exploring the transcendental and the existential. This album shows that the multi-instrumentalist is part of the wave of singer-songwriters who have swooned over MJ Lenderman and Waxahatchee, while also being a vector of optimism. Composed, performed, and recorded entirely by Perkins, What’s the Matter… is both the most stripped-down and the most expansive of his album triptych. The headphone symphonies evolve with deliberate and poised sophistication, while the lyrics explore new, more introspective territories. The touchstones of psychedelic pop are still present: Nilsson’s flourishes are still there, but also Gram Parsons and Jonathan Richman. If you want to assign a geographical position to What’s the Matter, M Ross, the album is equal parts Laurel Canyon and Big Pink, more Woodstock the town than the festival. M Ross Perkins is a self-contained Teenage Fanclub (the latest albums) with George Harrison’s spiritual sense of inner wandering.