First Thoughts on Mason Jennings
I have been anxious with anticipation of Mason Jennings' first new disc in two years, Boneclouds, and could barely wait to get the envelope open when it showed up in my mail yesterday. The album marks the first time in his 10-year, stubbornly indepent music career that he has recorded on a major label (Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace, an offshoot of Epic Records). And, as I am sure many Mason fans will do upon purchase, I popped the disc in and immediately began looking for ways that his sound may have changed with this new development.
I have to admit, when I heard the first track, my heart sunk because his voice was noticeably altered and an effect was added to make him sound booming and echo-y. The song, "Be Here Now," was one I remembered enjoying live, but the change in his sound was so drastic that I wasn't able to get into it during my first listen. The normal swoops and vulnerable lifts of his signature voice were overshadowed by technology, and I think I actually gasped and clutched my chest as I waited for the next track. The second track featured the same style of vocals, but the sound was a little softer and the effects were less noticeable. But I was still a little unsettled by the change.
Luckily, after track two I was able to loosen up, as the third track, "If You Ain't Got Love," is a quiet little gem in the same vein of previous Mason classics like "Ballad For My One True Love" or "Train Leaving Gray," and his voice is free and clear. As the album pushed forward I started to realize that many of the songs were the perfect culminations of all of Mason's previous albums - the tracks ranged from quiet, acoustic ballads to shuffling folk-rock sing-alongs to all-out rockers - and for the most part it seems like he has done a great job of refining his sound and expounding on the ideas he has explored previously (and staying away from too many effects). For the most part, it seemed that even his most experimental songs worked, and after revisiting the tracks I immediately disliked (tracks 1, 2, and 9, for those keeping score), I began to understand why he needed to make these types of songs.
Most importantly, by the time I got to the end of the disc I could positively say that the changes in Jennings' career have not affected his musical direction in any obvious way, and I know that I, for one, am relieved.
Boneclouds will be released on May 16, and Mason is playing the Orpheum on June 24. Expect more outta me about this in the weeks to come.
Track listing for Boneclouds:
I have to admit, when I heard the first track, my heart sunk because his voice was noticeably altered and an effect was added to make him sound booming and echo-y. The song, "Be Here Now," was one I remembered enjoying live, but the change in his sound was so drastic that I wasn't able to get into it during my first listen. The normal swoops and vulnerable lifts of his signature voice were overshadowed by technology, and I think I actually gasped and clutched my chest as I waited for the next track. The second track featured the same style of vocals, but the sound was a little softer and the effects were less noticeable. But I was still a little unsettled by the change.
Luckily, after track two I was able to loosen up, as the third track, "If You Ain't Got Love," is a quiet little gem in the same vein of previous Mason classics like "Ballad For My One True Love" or "Train Leaving Gray," and his voice is free and clear. As the album pushed forward I started to realize that many of the songs were the perfect culminations of all of Mason's previous albums - the tracks ranged from quiet, acoustic ballads to shuffling folk-rock sing-alongs to all-out rockers - and for the most part it seems like he has done a great job of refining his sound and expounding on the ideas he has explored previously (and staying away from too many effects). For the most part, it seemed that even his most experimental songs worked, and after revisiting the tracks I immediately disliked (tracks 1, 2, and 9, for those keeping score), I began to understand why he needed to make these types of songs.
Most importantly, by the time I got to the end of the disc I could positively say that the changes in Jennings' career have not affected his musical direction in any obvious way, and I know that I, for one, am relieved.
Boneclouds will be released on May 16, and Mason is playing the Orpheum on June 24. Expect more outta me about this in the weeks to come.
Track listing for Boneclouds:
- Be Here Now
- Gentlest Hammer
- If You Ain't Got Love
- Some Say I'm Not
- Moon Sailing On the Water
- Jackson Square
- If You Need A Reason
- Which Way Your Heart Will Go
- Where The Sun Had Been
- Jesus You Are Real
The only song I have heard is Be Here Now. I haven't been impressed. It seems like kind of a lazy song. I am looking forward to hearing the rest of the album though.
Posted by
Juan Appagado |
10:50 AM, April 14, 2006
Be Here Now is rubbish. I hope you're right about the rest of the album. Very disappointed with the single, but whatever, if Mason likes it, then I'm happy for him.
Posted by
Anonymous |
1:21 PM, April 18, 2006
Andrea,
It's my (painful) experience that producers, record companies, etc, push the hardest for heavy production and sonic bells and whistles on any track they think could be a radio song. And of course the first song on the CD almost always is the first song promoted to radio.
So probably the thinking was that the song needed production (more effects) to keep the clueless radio producers from saying "Bo-ring. Next."
Not that anyone in their right mind would say that about MJ.
But (most) radio producers aren't normal folk.
Bottom line, andIcouldbewrongbutthisisjustbasedonmyexperience, I suspect the new approach to his sound was not entirely his idea.
If a week or a month from now you still love the album and the songs, it will all be moot.
ScottW.
Posted by
Anonymous |
1:17 PM, April 20, 2006