Musical renaissance man Jason Collett is back at it again with his new album, Song and Dance Man. Collett is well known in the music scene both for his solo work and for his work with Canadian rock collective Broken Social Scene. But the process for creating this album was a departure from his previous experiences, solo and otherwise.
“One thing I did on this record that I’m really looking forward to doing live is that I hardly played any guitar,” says Collett. “Six albums in, I’m messing with, for the first time, just being a singer. It changed the dynamic of the recording and it’s changed the way that we’re playing, so I’m looking forward to touring with that, as well.”
Many of the themes on Song and Dance Man are an expression of Collett’s growing feelings of discontent with the direction of the music industry.
“I think overall the process was one of ambivalence, so I just kept on writing,” he says. “I was reluctant to just turn around and release another record and re-engage in another cycle. But, most importantly, I was reluctant to make another record that I was tossing into the gaping maw of Google or Apple or whatever else.”
With a focus on the shifting and uncertain musical landscape, the album takes a lighthearted jab at the music industry itself, something that Collett has a lot to say about.
“The economy of this is not working,” says Collett. “It’s not working for us. It’s working for Google. It’s working for Apple. It’s working for Amazon. But it’s not working for the artists, for the creators, for the songwriters.”
While some of the sweet melodies and reflective lyrics on Song and Dance Man are certainly lighthearted and jesting in tone, Collett stresses that the problems faced by his peers are very real.
“I think people have this misconception of what success is,” he says. “A lot of my peers are straight-up broke; they’re ending up on the covers of magazines and charting on Billboard, but they’re still broke. They’re still struggling to pay rent. So how long does this last, before songwriters can’t afford to be songwriters anymore?”
The album’s inspiration also draws heavily on what it means to be an artist, with its self-referential title and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. It is also rife with nostalgic themes.
“I think there’s reflections on getting older,” says Collett on the album. “I’m trying to write from where I’m at, and where my peers are at, and the state of what it’s like to be an artist. You’ve got to really hustle to make it all work for you. And, even then, it might not work.”
Despite the serious nature of the subject matter, Collett also notes that the album is very light and lighthearted at times.
“I feel like I found a really nice balance there, where it’s very enjoyable and it’s celebratory. And I take a supreme amount of joy in writing songs.”
Collett’s initial drive to write songs came from a fairly unusual place.
“The thing that first turned me on to being a songwriter would be in the early ’80s, CBC had a show on nuclear disarmament and they played Bob Dylan’s ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall.’ I was very sheltered up until that point, but hearing that song and the endless verses and evocative lyrics opened a whole world, an entirely different universe, in my young mind.”
Armed with a new album, Collett is excited to return to Victoria to play music and breathe in the fresh ocean air.
“To get out of that germ tube of a van and breathe that air and be actually on the ocean after coming across the prairies and mountains is so great,” he says. “It’s just that physicality of stepping up onto the deck for the first time after travelling; that excites me about Victoria.”
Jason Collett
8 pm Wednesday, April 27
$16, Lucky Bar
luckybar.ca