Post by Anacrusis on Nov 14, 2021 23:47:56 GMT
Matthew Kelly Sharp
Years Active: 1989 - Present
Associated Acts: Weezer, The Rentals
Recorded Range: D2 - D6
Voice Type: Baritone who wants to be a countertenor
{Vocal Summary}
Although his singing is perhaps best known for the soft, quirky falsetto featured in Weezer's early hits, Matt Sharp is really a baritone whose comfort range lies within the mid-second to mid-third octave, as evidenced by his side - and later main - project, The Rentals. As lead singer in The Rentals, Sharp has demonstrated clear control with his lower range while still employing his childlike falsetto from time to time. And after departing Weezer to focus further on The Rentals, he expanded his arsenal with gritty belts that Weezer’s Pinkerton subtly foreshadowed (Sharp’s belts are buried under Rivers, but they’re there).
As he’s ventured over the years through synthpop, post-punk, atmospheric folk ballads, and various other genres, Sharp has proven himself a versatile all-around singer. Particularly, The Rentals’ latest record (as of the time of writing this), Q36, is an excellent display of Sharp’s charisma and breadth as a vocalist, featuring a more refined tone that he maintains even through his highest belts.
Although his singing is perhaps best known for the soft, quirky falsetto featured in Weezer's early hits, Matt Sharp is really a baritone whose comfort range lies within the mid-second to mid-third octave, as evidenced by his side - and later main - project, The Rentals. As lead singer in The Rentals, Sharp has demonstrated clear control with his lower range while still employing his childlike falsetto from time to time. And after departing Weezer to focus further on The Rentals, he expanded his arsenal with gritty belts that Weezer’s Pinkerton subtly foreshadowed (Sharp’s belts are buried under Rivers, but they’re there).
As he’s ventured over the years through synthpop, post-punk, atmospheric folk ballads, and various other genres, Sharp has proven himself a versatile all-around singer. Particularly, The Rentals’ latest record (as of the time of writing this), Q36, is an excellent display of Sharp’s charisma and breadth as a vocalist, featuring a more refined tone that he maintains even through his highest belts.
Significant High Notes:
D6 ("American Girls" Homie)
C6 ("No Other One")
B5 ("Susanne" live Osaka, Japan 1997)
G♯5 ("El Scorcho", "No Other One", "She Says It’s Alright")
F5 ("The Good Life")
E♭5 ("Across the Sea", "El Scorcho", "Falling For You", "The Good Life", "Long Time Sunshine", "Only in Dreams", "Shake Your Diamonds", "We Have a Technical")
D5 ("American Girls" Homie)
C♯5 ("American Girls" Homie, "End of Forever" Goldenboy, "Goodbye West Coast", "The Great Bank Robbery", "I've Thrown It All Away", "Mrs. Young" 1993 demo, "Only in Dreams", "Teen Beat Cosmonaut")
C5 ("Breaking And Breaking And Breaking", "Buddy Holly", "FAQ" Berri Txarrak, "Long Time Sunshine", "My Head Is in the Sun", "No Other One", "Say It Ain’t So")
B4 ("1000 Seasons", "A Otra Cosa Mariposa", "California", "Move On", "My Name is Jonas", "Undone - The Sweater Song", "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here")
B♭4 ("Elon Musk Is Making Me Sad", "Lullaby for Wayne", "Only in Dreams", "Susanne", "Sweetness and Tenderness", "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here")
A4 ("End of Forever" Goldenboy, "Song of Remembering (2009)")
G♯4 ("El Scorcho", "FAQ" Berri Txarrak, "I've Thrown It All Away", "Lullaby for Wayne", "No One Else", "Susanne", "Teen Beat Cosmonaut")
G4 ("Big Daddy C.", "Forgotten Astronaut", "Long Time Sunshine", "Machine Love", "Say It Ain’t So", "Shake Your Diamonds")
F♯4 ("Before You Go", "Falling for You", "The Good Life", "The Great Bank Robbery", "Insomnia", "Mykel and Carli", "Nowhere Girl", "Surf Wax America", "These Days")
F4 ("El Scorcho", "Falling for You", "Friends of P.", "Getting By", "Machine Love", "She Says It’s Alright", "Teen Beat Cosmonaut", "Why Bother?", "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here")
E4 ("Breaking And Breaking And Breaking", "End of Forever" Goldenboy, "Goodbye Erica" Goldenboy, "Insomnia", "Naive", "Simple Life")
E♭4 ("Big Daddy C.", "Conspiracy", "The Cruise", "Elon Musk Is Making Me Sad", "Falling for You", "Goodbye West Coast", "Keep Sleeping", "Must Be Wrong", "My Head Is in the Sun", "Overlee", "She Says It’s Alright", "Some Come Running Through", "Somedays", "Thought of Sound", "Waiting")
Significant Low Notes:
C3 ("Barcelona", "Big Daddy C.", "Elon Musk Is Making Me Sad", "Every Time in Blue", "Great Big Blue", "Hello, Hello", "Last Romantic Day", "The Man with Two Brains", "No Desire #2", "Not Tonight", "Simple Life", "Somedays", "Visions of Anna", "Watch the Weather Break")
B2 ("A Otra Cosa Mariposa", "A Rose is a Rose", "Above This Broken World", "All I Have", "All Those Dreams", "Before You Go", "The Future", "Information (and the Island in the Sky)", "Irrational Things", "The Love I’m Searching For", "Naive", "Please Let That Be You", "Some Come Running Through", "Song of Remembering", "Spaceships", "Stardust", "Thoughts from a Slow Train")
B♭2 ("Big Daddy C.", "Colorado", "Conspiracy", "The Cruise", "Girls of the Metro", "Great Big Blue", "Hello, Hello", "It’s Alright (Reprise)", "It’s Time to Come Home", "Keep Sleeping", "Little Bit of You in Everything", "Must Be Wrong", "Nowhere Girl", "Say Goodbye Forever", "Seven Years", "Thought of Sound")
A2 ("Goodbye Erica" Goldenboy, "The Great Bank Robbery", "Information (and the Island in the Sky)", "No Desire #2", "A Thousand Seasons Past")
G♯2 ("A Rose is a Rose", "Brilliant Boy", "Conspiracy", "The Cruise", "Elon Musk Is Making Me Sad", "Getting By", "The Great Bank Robbery", "Hey, What You Gonna Do?", "Invasion Night", "Just Like Movie Stars", "Late Night Confessions", "My Head Is in the Sun", "Nowhere Girl", "One Last Prayer", "She Says It’s Alright", "Sweetness and Tenderness")
G2 ("Big Daddy C.", "Honey Life", "Last Romantic Day", "Not Tonight", "Say Goodbye Forever", "Thoughts from a Slow Train", "Traces of Our Tears (2009)")
F♯2 ("Above This Broken World", "Another World", "Before You Go", "Damaris", "Invasion Night", "Just Like Movie Stars", "Little Bit of You in Everything", "Stardust", "Teen Beat Cosmonaut", "Thoughts from a Slow Train")
F2 ("Colorado", "Great Big Blue", "No Desire #2", "Not Tonight", "Thought of Sound")
E2 ("A Otra Cosa Mariposa", "Another World", "The Great Bank Robbery")
E♭2 ("Watch the Weather Break")
D2 ("Watch the Weather Break")
{Range Timeline}
With Weezer:
Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994): F♯3 ("The World Has Turned and Left Me Here") - E♭5
Pinkerton (1996): C♯3 ("The Good Life") - G♯4 - G♯5 - C6
With The Rentals:
Return of the Rentals (1995): G♯2 - F♯4 - B4
Seven More Minutes (1999): E2 - G4 - C♯5
The Last Little Life EP (2007): F♯2 - D4 ("Last Romantic Day")
Songs About Time (2009): E2 - D4 ("Song of Remembering") - B4
Lost in Alphaville (2014): F2 - E♭4 - B4
Q36 (2020): E2 - G4 - E♭5
Solo work:
Puckett’s Versus the Country Boy (2003): G♯2 - E♭4 - C♯5
Matt Sharp (2004): D2 - E♭4 - C♯5
With Weezer:
Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994): F♯3 ("The World Has Turned and Left Me Here") - E♭5
Pinkerton (1996): C♯3 ("The Good Life") - G♯4 - G♯5 - C6
With The Rentals:
Return of the Rentals (1995): G♯2 - F♯4 - B4
Seven More Minutes (1999): E2 - G4 - C♯5
The Last Little Life EP (2007): F♯2 - D4 ("Last Romantic Day")
Songs About Time (2009): E2 - D4 ("Song of Remembering") - B4
Lost in Alphaville (2014): F2 - E♭4 - B4
Q36 (2020): E2 - G4 - E♭5
Solo work:
Puckett’s Versus the Country Boy (2003): G♯2 - E♭4 - C♯5
Matt Sharp (2004): D2 - E♭4 - C♯5
{Questionable Notes}
B5 ("El Scorcho" [3])
G5 ("Devotion" [2] I can’t even confirm if Matt sang on this track.)
F2 ("Holiday" [2])
E♭2 ("Shake Your Diamonds" [1])
D2 ("Information (and the Island in the Sky)" [5] Close to being countable, but too breathy/faint.)
F♯1 ("The Good Life" [5] It's the "Yeaaaah" in the intro. I'm open to maybe including this, but it seems too fried.)
..................................................
1. Brief jumps into high or low range (eg. Yelps, trills, anacrusis, etc.).
2. Notes whose singer is unclear.
3. Non-melodic (ie. Spoken or off-key) notes that also lack a clear pitch.
4. Possibly pitch-shifted notes.
5. Notes that do not fit the labels above but whose quality is still unrepresentative of the singer's usual work (eg. excessively distorted screams or sustained, but non-projected vocal fry).
B5 ("El Scorcho" [3])
G5 ("Devotion" [2] I can’t even confirm if Matt sang on this track.)
F2 ("Holiday" [2])
E♭2 ("Shake Your Diamonds" [1])
D2 ("Information (and the Island in the Sky)" [5] Close to being countable, but too breathy/faint.)
F♯1 ("The Good Life" [5] It's the "Yeaaaah" in the intro. I'm open to maybe including this, but it seems too fried.)
..................................................
1. Brief jumps into high or low range (eg. Yelps, trills, anacrusis, etc.).
2. Notes whose singer is unclear.
3. Non-melodic (ie. Spoken or off-key) notes that also lack a clear pitch.
4. Possibly pitch-shifted notes.
5. Notes that do not fit the labels above but whose quality is still unrepresentative of the singer's usual work (eg. excessively distorted screams or sustained, but non-projected vocal fry).
..................................................
• Blue: Falsetto, head voice, and/or whistle register (projected mixed voice is kept in black).
• Green: Distorted screams.
• Bold: Some of the singer's arguably most impressive notes within a given register. Click on a bolded song title to hear audio of that note.
• Italics: Non-melodic notes (ie. Spoken or off-key).
• Underlines: Notes that are buried in the song's mix or which blend together with the other voice(s) in a harmony.
