Jon Brion
Meaningless
One of America's most talented Singer/Songwriter/Producers. Heard producing Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, and Paul Thomas Anderson soundtracks. "Jon Brion is a master of pop. There is nothing he can't do." - Beck.
Jon Brion is one of America's most talented Singer/Songwriters.
He is a multi-instrumentalist who has the hippest live show in the greater L A area. You can check him out at the Largo.
Although Jon Brion does not have much in the way of solo recordings available, he has been working hard since he was a young man. He was a member of The Grays, whose album Ro Sham Bo was a masterpiece of power pop (along with Jason Falkner, Buddy Judge, and Dan McCarroll, excellent performers and songwriters in their own right).
Jon was responsible for much of the sound of Aimee Mann's two solo albums, played guitars on Jellyfish's album Spilt Milk, and contributed much to the sound of Fiona Apple's debut album Tidal.
Jon has also worked with such artists as Murray Attaway, Jude Cole, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, David Byrne, Brian Stevens, Sam Phillips, E (and the Eels), Susanna Hoffs, The Mommyheads, and Garrison Starr, among others. He continues to be much in demand as a studio musician.
About the songs - in his own words:
Gotta Start Somewhere: When I first moved into the house to start work on the studio I bought a cassette 4-track to keep myself busy. This was the first thing I recorded. It wasn't intended for human consumption. At a later date, when asked by Atlantic to hear "more", I transferred it to the 24-track and continued the mayhem.
I Believe She's Lying: Fear of commitment anthem. Aimee Mann helped with some lyrics.
Meaningless: This is an old song of mine. It's one of many that deals with memory and how events imbue certain inanimate objects with the power to open your flood gates. The basic track was recorded by Mike Deneen at Q-Division and sat in a tape box until I needed something uptempo. Jack Joseph Puig recorded some extra guitar. Rich Costey was on hand to aide in completion. I think he mixed the drums in a room we had set up for Pro Tools that was behind the kitchen upstairs. There were cables running in and out of the house.
Ruin My Day: One of two songs on the album with lyrics written with Jeff McGregor. Jeff is a favorite songwriter of mine, and I'm lucky to have written a number of songs with him. He has a number of records out under the name of "The Solipsitics", and you are urged to look into them. I had the music and the basic lyrical idea (the title and a few key lines) and we completed the rest of it together. One strange fact was that before we had met, Jeff had written a song that had the same bridge music (the "love it was lovely" part) in his song "Up to Now". The first time he played me that song I laughed and said I had an unfinished song with the exact same musical bridge. I played it and we had a good chuckle and surprisingly to me he thought we should finish my song off as well. It was originally written on acoustic guitar but I grew accustomed to playing it on piano. The version here cracks me up because it reminds me of an old Atlantic record.
Walking Through Walls: This is one of the first songs Grant Lee Phillips and I wrote together. Grant's a remarkably talented individual who fronted Grant Lee Buffalo and is now starting a solo career. We are currently making a collaborative record where we both write and sing and play everything. We get together when schedules allow and it should be available this year.
Trouble: Jeff helped me finish off the lyrics on this one too. It was very helpful in that I had most of it in scattered notebooks and wasn't sure if I had confidence in them. He helped structure it and threw in some good lines. A hearty Thank You.
Hook, Line & Sinker: Fairly self-explanatory.
Dead To The World: The basic is all optigan, chamberlin and mellotron (the fetching tremolo guitar). The vocal was thrown on and it was one of the roughs sent into Atlantic. I just kept it "as is". The Outro is from an early un-used version of the Bridge of "Ruin My Day", Disney-style (with Bluebirds).
Her Ghost: A song I wrote when I lived in Boston. I've recorded some different versions over the years but was never happy. The original version had some orchestra samples over very straight drums and bass, and I always wanted to wait until I could make an album with orchestra to do this song, as that was the original intention. A conversation with my brother prompted its inclusion on this record. The orchestra will have to wait.
Same Mistakes: At about 3:30 in the morning on the last day of mixing I finished off lyrics to this song and we recorded it, put a coupe of overdubs on and mixed it. One of my favorite things on the record.
Voices: This is a Cheap Trick song. I'd been doing it at Largo with Music Boxes randomly playing and an Edison cylinder machine also running of its own free will. There's less of it on the record than there normally is in my live show because on the night of recording it's mainspring exploded.
Pop: Beatles-pop