BAHAMAS’ AFIE JURVANEN PRODUCES ICONIC CANADIANA SONGWRITER JASON COLLETT'S 70’S DANCE MUSIC INSPIRED 6th LP
SONG AND DANCE MAN OUT FEBRUARY 5 VIA ARTS & CRAFTS
PHOTO CREDIT: ISIS ESSERY
“Song And Dance Man” is the title track from Jason Collett’s sixth full-length album and it finds the iconic singer-songwriter back at centre stage, with three-minutes-and-change and a story to sing. The video, edited by Arts & Crafts label mate Hayden Desser, shines a light on the trials and triumphs of the modern musician by creating contrast with archival footage of a variety of performers from a bygone age (courtesy of Prelinger Archives, San Francisco).
“I had a great time working with Jason on this video,” says Hayden. “He found this wonderful footage of the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair: amateur videos of a time that differ from today’s ‘shoot everything’ mentality. Much of the footage is quite striking and thoughtful. Editing to such a great, catchy song was a real pleasure."
“I’ve always been a fan of Hayden’s videos, particularly the dry wit he employs while still exploring a kind of fundamental beauty,” Collett explains. “He’s got a keen sense of rhythm editing found footage and I love how the carnival atmosphere in this video lends itself to the light-hearted through-line of the song – the absurd, tragi-comic nature of the hustle that musicians, or any kind of artist, are expected to engage in these days."
Produced by Bahamas’ Afie Jurvanen, Song And Dance Man’s thirteen songs bear the wit and melody of classic Jason Collett: contemplative reflections on getting older, backed with an affinity for freewheeling 70s dance music. The album’s conspiring themes of love & loneliness, sun & shadows, are buoyed by its soaring sound. Each song rises into an easy, spacious groove, lead by Jason’s languid melodies and Afie’s sun-drunk bass.
“There’s a cool economy to Afie’s approach that lets the record breathe and allows it to say more with less, something I worked hard at hardly working at in writing the songs,” says Collett. “Keeping a light touch, keeping it short.”
Having spent the years since 2012’s Reckon finding himself further engaged in the growing success of his Basement Revue concert series – a cross-pollinating musical & literary mash-up of Canada’s premiere contemporary artists – the Toronto indie-troubadour describes this record as a liberating process distilled in a stretch of deep domestic reverie.
"I like writing songs and for the first time in my life I felt no rush to hustle them or myself out the door,” says Collett. “I let some dust settle, some weeds grow, putter about at home…”
The result is a dynamic addition to a strong body of work. Recorded in spring 2015 with long-time collaborators drummer/engineer Don Kerr (at his Rooster Studio), Christine Bougie on guitar & lap steel, Zeus’ Neil Quinn on backing vocals, and Afie holding it down on the bass, Song And Dance Man may be Jason Collett’s finest effort yet. The storied songwriter is back in the spotlight, more comfortable than ever in the guise of entertainer:
You got to do what you can when you’re a Song And Dance Man.
Fans in Toronto can attend Jason Collett’s ninth annual Basement Revue which kicks off on December 1 at The Dakota Tavern and will run for five consecutive Tuesdays. Curated and hosted by Collett and poet Damian Rogers, past Basement Revues have boasted an impressive roster featuring Feist, Michael Ondaatje, A Tribe Called Red, Joseph Boyden, Margaret Atwood, Anne Waldman, Daniel Lanois, Naomi Klein, Gord Downie, Marina Abromovic, Broken Social Scene, Andy Kim, Linda Spalding, Ken Babstock, Torquil Campbell (Stars), John K. Sampson (Weakerthans) and more.
National tour dates will be announced soon.
SONG AND DANCE MAN TRACKLIST:
1. Provincial Blues
2. Song And Dance Man
3. Forever Young Is Getting Old
4. Long Day's Shadow
5. Little Sparrow
6. If She Don't Love Me Now
7. Singing American
8. Love You Babe
9. Black Oak Savanna
10. Where Does Your Love Go?
11. Nobody's Fool
12. It Don't Matter Anymore
13. Staring At The Sun
JASON COLLETT ONLINE
http://www.arts-crafts.ca/
@artsandcrafts