Jason Collett- Here's to Being Here

Jason Collett- Here’s To Being Here

Released: February 5, 2008

Generally new albums are difficult for me to listen to, for a number of reasons. Most obvious is that I don’t know the music. For this album I had no problem, probably because I knew most of the tunes just from seeing his live show. ‘Here’s To Being Here’ is an extremely mellow album, however in a very different way from his previous two releases. He has definitely tried to vary his sound up, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t, however it’s really hard for Collett to disappoint me. Collett maintains his cool Dylan-esq sound and pretty basic song structures, but at the same time he captures something completely different. For instance at the end the album, the tune “Waiting for the World” (which kills me to say, because I think of that really awful John Mayer song) is incredibly simple but ends with subtle percussion and minimal guitars for the last minute and a half of the song. It’s really beautiful, it just diminishes into nothing. The first half of the album is significantly more upbeat than the latter half. Upbeat in such a way like Collett always does (Think “I’ll Bring the Sun” off of ‘Idols of Exile’). “Out of Time” is definitely one of the more upbeat tunes off of the album however it has an awful synth riff that carries throughout the song. It destroys it. I think the synthesizer should be used minimally, because it quite often becomes far too overpowering in songs and especially in the live show.“Charlyn, Angel of Kensington” is a song about Kensington Market. I hate the instrumentation, it’s really repetitive and it is not the slightest bit dynamic or different. However it does document a Kensington Market, “From St. Christopher’s House…”. “From Denison square to the synagogue steps”! His imagery is absolutely flawless, reading it, it seems like an adjective overload, but it translates really well into song. It’s close to home so I feel like I can likely it a little more, although it is one of my least favourite tunes off of the album.On the flip side, my favourite song off this album is “I’m Not Over You”. Typical love, hurt, recovery sort song that Collett pens so well. Before the album even came out I knew it very well because I’ve heard him play it practically every time I have seen him. It’s an extremely well crafted song, that has a nice build up and perfect instrumentation, a little bit of the key board and rock. His lyrics are bitter and honest, “You said goodbye but never left, I get so tired of all your shit”. This song is the equivalent to the song “Almost Summer” (of ‘Idols of Exile’). It’s jaded but it’s really pretty. This album seems a little to CHUM FM friendly, which kind of hurts a little. I could see Moms around Toronto singing along to any given tune off of this album. Over produced or not, his style is distinct, despite the countless similarities that Collett could easily be drawn to.He recently had a three week long residency at the Dakota Tavern, where he played three shows with different acts throughout, he coined it his “variety show”. I managed to catch the first and the last and it was absolutely incredible, seeing Hayden, Serena Ryder, Andrew Cash and my personal favourite Charles Spearin! Anyways, to get to the point, he had a pianist accompany him throughout his songs. Sadly he didn’t include him on this album! At the first live show he introduced the pianist and said this was the fist time he has played with them, and poked fun at him for playing with Sloan. I wasn’t sure if he was joking or making a serious statement. I hope he keeps him, either way. Paso Mino are still backing him up. It works, I like their mix together.Songs to check out: “I’m Not Over You” and the last minute and a half of “Waiting For the World”.8/10... He gets a point for artwork, it’s beautiful, but I wish he had a hard case for the CD (in the cardboard!), because it’s not a record and it’s going to get scratched… It was really cute how when I went to rip this album to Itunes, the song titled “Sorry Lori” was named “Sorry Lou”!

February 5, 2009