You can’t fake talent. You are either born with the aptitude to learn a skill or not, but repetition is the mother of genius. This is a long-held belief of mine, so I was really excited to come across Jonathan Mann. (Watch him explain who he is here.) His creative career centers around his theory that if he writes a song a day some will suck, most will be in the ok to good category, and some will be great. He selected five of his best songs to include on his EP, “Barefoot in the Family Tree.” Intrigued, I jumped in to see if his EP would support his theory or if it would collapse under scrutiny.
After about five listens in, I was annoyed. This might just be personal preference, since the songs were incredibly diverse. I was pulled in one way, just to have the next track shove me in the opposite direction. If one is writing a song a day, I can see where playing with genre and style happens, if nothing else but to keep from being bored. I was jarred, however, and his style made me wonder what his true sound is. How does Jonathan Mann define himself as an artist? Does he know? The EP provides no clear picture. I understand, he has five songs to grab his audience. Most artists aren’t so stylistically fragmented.
Now that that is out of the way, each of these songs (with the exception of one) are pretty good. A couple I would describe as being great (true to his theory, he’ll be happy to hear). “Dance and Dance Again” is hands down the best song on the EP and the best one to open with. It’s really quirky. It starts out with handclaps, something that reminds me of 16 bit video game music played on guitar mixed with a Mexican/old-western theme. This interesting combination becomes infiltrated with a chorus of whoas and ohs and piano in the background. The more I listened to this song, the more I loved it. The breakdown was a great accent and bonus, the song mentions being caught in the rain, and upon my second listen, I was in my car, driving in the rain. Nature and music collided. It was cool. I was there.
“We Are Pattern Machines” has some interesting thoughts that are worth pondering. “I’m sick of seeing patterns everywhere” is a great lyric. Does the Universe have meaning, or is it just a collection of randomness? Either way, our brains are wired to make patterns to create meaning to help us understand the world around us. The song uses accordion, a marching drum beat, and vibraphone. Mann layers his own vocals on top of each other, and they are the highlight.
The third track, “Penguins Having a Party” was my least favorite song on the album. But, by listen seven? I was singing with it. Not sure if that was a reflection on the song itself, or more my being impressionable. The lyrics are nonsensical, the tune almost grating. This is the first track on the album where Mann utilizes other singers and it does add a nice layer to what would be a really annoying song otherwise. You go with it. You accept it. It’s a song about penguins. They are having a party. It’s a happy time. Stop thinking, unless you’re thinking about penguins having a party. Awwwww, wouldn’t that be cute?!
My second favorite song, “Bury Me Beneath the Ocean” is just a beautiful song. I couldn’t make out the lyrics, and I didn’t have to. The music spoke for itself. It is dominated by a female voice very heavy on the reverb. Mixed with surfer ballad style guitar, it transported me to an island surrounded by brilliant blue water. A tremolo effect on the guitar solo and Mann’s voice singing “bury me” over the female’s melodic phrasings lent to an underwater feel, which is what he was going for. Mission achieved.
The final song on the album gets credit for being the best lyrically. The style is typical folk music, just guitar and vocals for the majority of the song and harmonica added toward the end. The song has a nice melody, but were it not for the lyrics, it wouldn’t be worth mentioning. “Baby, It All Led To You” is incredibly clever writing. Mann chronicles the process of evolution starting with primordial ooze, continuing through the dawn of mammals, and ending with “a horny teenage couple.” All these events created his lover. If any of these steps had been omitted, baby, it wouldn’t have led to you. It’s an odd subject matter, juxtaposed with folk music, but it’s endearing. A repeated lyric of “And not one died,” shows the frailty all of us faced in our journey to be born.
I will listen to this EP again in the future. Will it become a staple in my listening collection? That’s harder to predict. Two or three songs are definitely playlist worthy. I do think Mann is on the right track with his song-a-day project. If he ever cobbles together a theme or genre that he commits to for the duration of a full length album, I’ll be here.
You can download the complete EP here.
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