North is Matchbox Twenty’s fourth studio album, and their first new material in a decade (excluding a handful of tracks on 2007’s greatest hits, Exile on Mainstream). The lengthy absence has been kind to the band. Though the music industry has fundamentally changed around them, upstarts like Snow Patrol and Maroon 5 have ploughed a not dissimilar furrow in the interval, seeking to conquer American commercial radio. With the abundance of safe and/or characterless MOR still on the airwaves, these relative dinosaurs will be pleased to discover that their very much imitable style has aged rather well.
