Album Notes

Hats & Rabbits is the first complete CD of songs released by Chris Matarazzo. Chris performed all instruments and lead vocals on this CD, which is the result of nearly three years of writing and recording. The music on Hats & Rabbits is inspired by his musical loves, from orchestral to pop music -- and everything in between -- and all of the material was written with the philosophy that, as Sting once said, pop music should be a mongrel of other musical styles. The album really defies musical description, while at the same time remaining appealing to the general pop and rock audience. While Chris believes in artistic experimentation, he also believes that to leave the general audience behind is an artistic failure. Lyrically, the songs journey through a call for help, in the opening song, "Invocation," through lyrics about everything from romantic dependence ("Suzanne is Sad") to ghosts in love ("The Ghosts of Tears") to a sea captain who gets back a day too late to reclaim his estranged wife ("Mutiny"), as well as various other introspective and philosophical themes. As Chris mentions, in the liner notes, there is no gurantee that you will love every song, but he does guarantee that no two songs are the same and that he has poured all of his love for words and music into every track. Hats & Rabbits is the sincere, emotional and lyrically wide-ranging work of a songwriter/performer with decades of studio and live performance under his hood. Hats & Rabbits is a collection of songs for the head and for the heart.