Jason Collett : Reckon

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/jasoncollettreckon.jpg" alt="Jason Collett : Reckon" /><br /> Jason Collett has managed to both put out a lot of songs, and a lot of great songs. ...
Jason Collett : Reckon
8.0 Arts & Crafts
2012 

Jason Collett : Reckon Usually in musical output, it’s quantity vs. quality.  Some artists release an overstuffed record (or two) every year, and while the albums have some gems, there’s also a lot that should have been left on the editing room floor.  Then there are the artistes who take years to produce a new album, but it was worth the wait.  And then there’s Canada’s Jason Collett, who seems to put out a full full-length every other year of top-notch quality – 2012 is no different with Reckon, where he continues to draw upon the diverse seventies singer-songwriter tradition.

At fifteen tracks, Reckon could easily have had some great songs and some not-as-great songs similar to the great ones.  But instead, Collett has kept up his varied musical style, one that plays mostly in the troubadour ways of the seventies, but also reaches out in other directions.  Collett can do the intimate & resigned that made Bon Iver (QRO live review) so big on songs like opener “Pacific Blue” – but then can also pull off a cheery disco beat in the sly, but not overdone, “You’re Not the On and Only Lonely One”.  Smiling half tongue-in-cheek kiss-off to the financial industry “I Wanna Rob a Bank” would be the anthem of what you wish Occupy Wall Street was (the politics of Reckon is a little mitigated by Collett being Canadian, as their institutions acted in a much better fashion…) – but then he can get honest and authentic “like Lenny on Law & Order” in “My Daddy Was a Rock ‘n’ Roller” (and any reference to Briscoe, one of the greatest cops ever on television, is a good one…).  Even the overused old line, “Ask me no questions / I’ll tell you no lies” in “Ask No Questions” feels right – as does the orchestral element.  And Collett can even surprise with some expanding sound, in the loss of “Where Things Go Wrong”.

Slowly but surely becoming known most for his solo work rather than having once been in Broken Social Scene (QRO spotlight on) – a collective he hasn’t played in for years, save for the odd festival guest spot (QRO photos) – Jason Collett has managed to both put out a lot of songs, and a lot of great songs.

MP3 Stream: “My Daddy Was a Rock ‘n’ Roller

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