It seems that among every self-respecting indie rock label collective, amidst the motley crew of obligatory producer/multi-instrumentalists, folksy female singer/songwriters, reclusive genius frontmen, and the dude who's always selling the merch, lurks another none-too-rare breed of indie rock royalty: the earnest male singer/songwriter. Yes, we've all seen them, usually pathologically clutching their browbeaten acoustic guitars while gently emoting nostalgic notes of heartbreak. In fact, they're most likely spotted conveniently serving as a handy opening act for your favorite label's marquee band; which, if you're really lucky, this broken-hearted rebel may also serve as a member of. Such is the case with Broken Social Scene guitarist/songwriter Jason Collett. His debut solo album for the ever-expanding Canadian all-star label, Arts & Crafts, is titled Motor Motel Love Songs, and predictably features a selection of his finest moments from off of his earlier self-released discs.
Unfortunately, this record bears three strikes against it even before we're able to get the album out of its shrinkwrap. With a title as yearningly cliched as Motor Motel Love Songs, and a tracklist that reads sappier than Hugh Grant's film canon (sample track titles: "Bitter Beauty", "Tiny Ocean of Tears" and "All I've Ever Known"), it looks bleak for the originality of the music within; and, for the record, I'll just let the numbingly pastoral cover art speak for itself. However, the real obstacle this record faces is the dazzling modest beauty of one of this year's most outstanding releases, Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It in People. It is a resounding disappointment that Collett's run-of-the-mill solo work bears little in common with the epic fractured subtleties of his focal band's sound, and anyone left searching for lingering elements of Broken Social Scene's music will undoubtedly be left disappointed.
In spite of all of this, one of the most surprising elements of Motor Motel Love Songs is that, while the album fails to break any new musical territory, Collett is incredibly adept at recreating the melodic sunny ambience, and California strum of 70s-era AM pop. Despite featuring a lyric as banal as "I know it's complicated, but don't you think giving up is so overrated," the sparkly telecaster rock of "Tiny Ocean of Tears" is melodically charming. The mid-tempo muted hum of "Choke Cherry" and the Woody Guthrie-inspired litany of "Honey I Don't Know", both seem to serve as perfect musical canvases for the self-introspection of the protagonists in each of the numbers. Furthermore, a disarmingly offhand song like "Gabe", which drives along on an empathetically understated melodic line three times removed from Pete Yorn, Eddie Vedder, and The Eagles, seems to become more insistently catchy with each listen.
The real saving grace of Motor Motel Love Songs, though, is Andrew Cash's flawlessly restrained production. Despite reaching success on his own with the obscure 80s alternative group, L'etranger, fellow Toronto stalwarts Cash and Collett have had a long history of collaboration together including serving as fellow band members in The Andrew Cash Band, Ursula, and Bird. On a number like the memorably idyllic "Blue Sky", Cash supplies Collett's rambling bucolic melody with a gleaming, stripped-down accompaniment, made up of a snaky bassline, choppy reverb-drenched guitars, and a mellow organ refrain played by fellow Broken Social Scene cohort Brendan Canning. And on the countrified midtempo rocker that serves as the album's opener, "Bitter Beauty", Cash uses all these same elements and adds a brilliant layer of sun-drenched vocal harmonies as a perfect accent to the already rootsy mix.
Motor Motel Love Songs will likely have Collett's listening audience despondently frustrated with his trite cliché hopping and swooning after his timeless rustic melodies all at the same time. While he may not appear much different from the legions of other singer/songwriter hopefuls, resigning to sing their proverbial musical diaries to indifferent chatty audiences at dive bar venues across the globe, he adequately gets by with a little help from his friends.
