         
|
Jason Daniello – The Art and Craft of SongwritingI sat waiting for Albuquerque singer/songwriter Jason Daniello, trying to contain my excitement. This interview was the perfect cover for me to covertly obtain some lessons in great song writing. I'd long known of Jason's reputation, as anyone in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area with a remote interest in good music has heard of his various projects, the now defunct Naomi and his current band Jason and the Argonauts. But nothing prepared me for the power of his songwriting, for the sheer beauty of his music. From the moment I heard him singing his latest songs in a local coffee shop, I knew I had to hear more. When I listened to his new CD Everything Good for the sixth time in two days, I knew I had to find out how he could make great music seem so effortless. Jason arrived with his usual affable smile and a gift, a copy of his first CD, Re-Creation, a decidedly more eclectic collection of acoustic songs than Everything Good. As we settled in to a shared lunch of Shrimp Pud Thai and Catfish Curry, the talk inevitably turned to music. I admitted to him that I'm not a huge fan of pop music and wouldn't know a Wilco song if it bit me on the foot. But I know a good song when I hear it, and that his album just floored me. As a musician, I wanted to know if there was some formula Jason uses to come up with such great songs. "I was listening to your song 'stared' the other day," I told him between bites of shrimp. "And there is this huge, pregnant pause in the bridge. You build up all this tension and then come back in so strong and release it. Do you make a conscious decision to write things like that?" "Not at all," Jason told me. "I just write what makes me happy. I'm a listener too. I listen to a lot of music. So I play stuff that I'd like to listen to." "But what about songs like 'elizabeth anne,' which is probably the most up-tempo song on the album, did you set out to emulate any other songs, something you heard and thought 'I want to write a song like that.'?" "There are a few songs that I love and would like to write something as good, but I never set out to emulate anyone," Jason said, spooning curry onto his rice. "I just wanted to write a celebratory song, something upbeat and fun." This was really starting to bum me out. I wanted some trade secret; nobody could write songs this catchy without a secret formula. "So when you are working on a song like that," I probed, "do you listen to a lot of upbeat music to get in the mood or put you in a frame of mind?" "No, I don't follow any sort of pattern like that when I'm writing, which results in a lot of dry spells." Ah ha! Well that's good news, I thought. At least he struggles like the rest of us. "Luckily, though, I then get a bunch of songs all at once." What I realized then is that Jason doesn't need a secret formula. Jason just devotes himself to his music. When he's not shuffling boxes of Chinese herbs around the country at his day gig, the 32 year old New Mexico native is working on his songs, letting his enormous talent take charge. "So how long did it take you to write this album?" I asked. "It's been about two years. Some of the songs like 'how long' and 'tiny pill' I've had since 1998." "So why record them now?" "Well (producer) Ryan Martino and I went through about thirty songs and tried to pick out those that felt related both in terms of sound and subject matter," Jason said. "It really does seem like an album, not just a group of songs, especially the song order. Did you focus on that on purpose?" I asked. "Oh yeah!" Jason said. "I really wanted to make an album like (The Rolling Stones') Tattoo You, where there is a shift from side A, which is more rocking, to side B, which has all this beautiful music on it." "I hadn't even noticed that you had sides A and B on here," I said pulling out my copy of the CD and reading the track list. "But it makes sense. It really sounds like an album in that sense where side A builds up to a point that makes you want to flip the album over to hear side B, then there's a huge payoff when you do. That's what this record does from 'everything good' on. It just gets bigger and better." We shuffled plates around the table, allowing each other to get second helpings, the give and take of sharing food much the same as the give and take of sharing our love for making music. "One of the things that struck me," I said spinning noodles around my fork, "is all of the attention to detail you've paid on this album. So many people just take a song and record it, EQ it, then call it a day. But it really seems like you used the studio like another instrument, adding effects and ambience to really fill your songs out." "Absolutely. To me playing live is one thing, and it's great. But recording in the studio is its own thing. It's like a paint palette where I can experiment with different colors and textures. I like to play around with all of the different options the studio offers. Like all the feedback in the background of 'everything good,' that's actually Dan, the bass player, messing around with a bunch of bass distortion creating all these great sounds." "Bass distortion on a pop album," I blurted. "That's what I'm talking about. There are so many unexpected little things on this album that work so well." "I just wanted to take full advantage of my time in the studio and make a really good album." With that, Jason excused himself for a moment, leaving me alone at the table. I couldn't help noticing that I was surrounded by metaphors for his distinct brand of music. The well-worn booth of the Thai restaurant was luxuriously comforting yet occasionally provided an unexpected spring as I shifted my weight. In the background Thai ballads rolled through the air, relaxing and sweet yet exotic and a bit disconcerting in the way they drew me in to a language I was unfamiliar with. When he returned I tried to make a connection between my own limited knowledge of pop music and his songs. It really seemed to me that this album had that same warm guitar sound and energy of late 1980s / early 1990s pop. While my reference to the Plimsouls left Jason at a loss, when I mentioned The Smithereens, he perked right up. "I love The Smithereens!" he said. "I used to play a Smithereens cover in my first band." Well, at least I know my antiquated reference material isn't too far off. I guess the reason why I still remember The Smithereens well over a decade since I've heard anything by them, is because their songs are timeless. I can still sing the melody to "Behind the Wall of Sleep," to this day, though anyone who's heard me sing will beg me not to. Along with his pure, haunting voice and overdriven guitars, it is the timelessness of Jason's music that tells me I'll be listening to this album for years to come. This album proves that Jason is more than a singer/songwriter; he is a craftsman of the highest order. Jason Daniello regularly tours throughout the Southwest and will be performing with his band, Jason and the Argonauts, at Colorado's South Park Music Festival in September. By: John D. Bess
|
© 2005, Jason Daniello Music. |