You don't hear piano
as the lead instrument much these days.
For a while
there, Coldplay and Keane were the lead ambassadors of the notion that the
piano is still a viable rock instrument, but Coldplay transitioned to the
guitar and string sounds championed by U2, and Keane…well, I'm not sure what
happened to Keane.
There was a time
in the 50s and 60s when the piano was the primary songwriting instrument (hell,
it might still be, I'm no musician) for some truly, truly classic songs.
Tobias Jesso Jr.
would have fit right in during that era, but on his debut album, Goon, he manages to create music that feels
both of its time, and timeless.
Jesso channels a
variety of classic rock songwriters on Goon,
from Carole King and Harry Nilsson to Jackson Browne and Randy Newman – all writers
who were able to produce shimmeringly lovely music from a simple palette. On
all but two of the 12 songs on the album, the piano and Jesso's boy-next-door
voice are front and center, and he sings with an untrained earnestness that
marked so much of the aforementioned artists' best work.
Jesso knows how
to push his voice when he wants to – check out the way his comes this close to breaking near the end of
"How Could You Babe" as he pleads for understanding from a former
flame.
The man is
staggeringly capable of writing a hook – "Can We Still Be Friends"
has a King piano line that is immediately accessible and infectious, and Jesso
pairs it with his best young Paul McCartney plea. "Leaving LA" is
another impossibly catchy piano-driven number that quietly builds to a gorgeous
choral climax.
"The
Wait" and album closer "Tell The Truth" prove that Jesso is as
skilled on the guitar as he is on the piano - both are incredibly catchy
finger-picked acoustic numbers that sound like they could've come from either
Browne or James Taylor in their heydays.
Jesso isn't a
complete throwback artist, however, and while he certainly embraces the pop
stylings from the 60s, he isn't afraid to bring his own flourishes to the
songs.
On
"Hollywood" Jesso manages to channel both Newman and Death Cab for
Cutie's "Why You'd Want to Live Here" without any of the expected
bitterness. It's just him and his piano, singing like he's the only guy in some
dive bar on the strip, about to give up on Los Angeles and crawl away. When he
brings the horns in at the end of the song, they bleat and blare like they're
the first line is his shambling pity parade. There's a little bit of Radiohead
in the way the horns cut across Jesso's piano – it's wildly emotive without
using any words.
"Crocodile
Tears" is hilarious, tongue-in-cheek ode to a ball-breaker who leaves him
in ruins that features the best Elton John piano-work this side of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and the
electric guitars are straight out of a George Harrison solo – a little strange
at first, but it completely fits the song.
Looking back at
what I've written so far, you've probably noticed how much I'm referencing other
artists in this piece. This could lead you to think if you're already fans of
the source material, there's no need to sample Goon. And that's wrong.
Perhaps the most
impressive feat on this simple gem of an album is the way Jesso manages to
funnel all these influences through his lovesick worldview. He sounds like the
young man he is, wiser than his years, but still dumb enough to keep falling in
love with the wrong people. In time – one hopes – he'll learn wisdom, but as Goon ably proves, he's further ahead
than most.
Goon is
out on True Panther Sounds.
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