Fallen Sparks Records

Matisyahu was just a semi-retired Phish Head with a buzz and some serious shtick potential when he recorded his breakthrough album Live at Stubb’s in 2005. Five years later, Matis has morphed from a high energy – though at times stiff – performer to a well-respected pillar of the jamband festival circuit. Returning to Stubb’s to record his second full length live album, the Hassidic reggae star shows just how much has changed in the past few years. Backed only by the hard-edged Dub Trio, Matis’ sound is denser and slower; the pockets of improvisation are richer and the four musicians move together like a band rather than a frontman and his group of backing musicians. The 12-minute welcome reworking of the radio hit “Youth” – one of Vol. II’s central tracks – is nearly twice the length of the original Stubb’s longest track. But this isn’t an album of meandering solos but rather proof that Matisyahu can naturally straddle the line between pop star and jamband stalwart like few years.