Babylon

Babylon

A trooper, a vagabond, a minstrel and an artist - over the<br>course of fifteen years and eight full-length albums as the lead<br>singer/songwriter for Chicago's Alkaline Trio, Matt Skiba has<br>been all of these things. Touring the world, heart on sleeve,<br>Skiba has consistently penned some of the great dark pop<br>anthems of the past decade. Now, after so many years as part<br>of the band that has come to define him, Skiba has stepped out<br>from the Trio to create Babylon, the debut album from MATT<br>SKIBA AND THE SEKRETS.<br>Babylon doesn't mark a major sonic departure from the infectiously<br>catchy, sanguine-stained tunesmanship Skiba is known<br>for. The songs are still cleverly-crafted and instantly memorable,<br>but the details of the tracks on Babylon are what separate<br>this album from all of his previous output. His independence<br>from the confines of a group dynamic allow the songs to<br>take flight, subtleties intact, and elevate the music from mere<br>songs to exquisite songcraft.<br>Teaming up with AFI's Hunter Burgan on bass and My<br>Chemical Romance's Jarrod Alexander on drums, Babylon<br>remains the creation of Skiba himself. It's a band, but it's not<br>a band. It was great to have Hunter and Jarrod come in and<br>play. They are both great musicians and it was a thrill to play<br>with them. Everyone involved in the album breathed life into<br>the ideas, making them songs and giving those songs a foundation<br>that couldn't be stronger or more inspired