San Francisco – Tobias Jesso, Jr., was never really a piano player. It wasn’t until a woman in a dream told him that the world was going to end that he decided to sit down at the keys and write his first solo demo, “Just A Dream.” This strange encounter turned out to be just the sort of catalyst Jesso needed to pursue a new artistic direction. Now, almost two years later, the final product of his new endeavor—his solo debut LP, Goon—is here, and man, is it a doozy.
Jesso started his musical career playing bass, offering his talents to a handful of acts while living in Los Angeles. Eventually he migrated back home to Vancouver, reeling from the chaos left in the wake of a rather scathing break-up and a recent cancer diagnosis affecting his mother. He then started toying around on the piano, matching simple yet beautiful arrangements with the heartbreaking lyrics he was producing. His demos caught the attention of bassist JR White (of the now-defunct San Francisco band Girls), and with the help of some powerhouse producers his first album was born.
Jesso’s talents don’t really lie in his piano playing abilities; rather the instrumentation on Goon is fairly basic. That being said, these simple chord progressions are the perfect backdrop for Jesso’s intensely melancholy lyrics. Most of the tracks mainly feature Jesso and his piano playing, along with some light percussion, save for “The Wait,” which is decorated with some rather artful guitar picking (some songs also include some gentle strings or horns). It’s Jesso’s vocals and lyrics that take center stage, while the accompanying instrumentation provides a subtle yet enticing scenery against which the words perform freely, never at risk of being outshone. Jesso’s voice is chameleon-like, able to take on roles ranging from deep despair to earnestness to palpable confusion.
Most of the lyrical content on the album deals with the range of emotions one can only endure having just painfully dissolved a personal relationship. The first track on the album, “Can’t Stop Thinking About You,” is drenched in self-loathing and maddening bewilderment, as he goes over and over in his head what exactly went wrong and if there’s a way to fix it (‘There’s got to be something I could do’). This deafening pain is taken over by soft anger in the next track, “How Could You Babe?,” in which he attempts to start coping with his loss (‘And when love is in the way/You gotta say/I guess love ain’t always right’), but still the inner turmoil he is experiencing breaks the surface as he begs for an explanation.
“Without You” is probably his best known song, and features Danielle Haim (of HAIM) on drums, with HAIM producer Ariel Rechtshaid also contributing. On this track, Jesso’s voice turns more timid and breathy as he comes to terms with his unwillingness to let go. Eventually, Jesso starts to audibly heal, offering an olive branch of forgiveness in “Can We Still Be Friends?” and even surrender, as he attempts to make things better by taking the blame for everything going wrong in “Bad Words.” The vocals on “Bad Words” are still slow and mournful, but with an added reverb effect, as if he is calling to his lost love from a faraway place, perhaps even a faraway future, or past.
The most saddening tracks on Goon deal with his mother’s diagnosis with cancer. The jaunty “For You” is a wonderful confession of devotion (‘I would do anything for you/You are the only thing good in my life’), highlighting all the joy this woman has brought to his life (‘Every time I see ya, I’m always smiling/Every time I see ya, you’re always shining’). “Leaving LA” is far more devastating, as he recounts the phone call in which her diagnosis is revealed, causing him to drop everything and immediately come home (‘She listens as I say to her, ”you don’t have to be alone”’).
I’ve heard Tobias Jesso, Jr. compared to many singer-songwriters…Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, even Paul McCartney…and as flattering as it is to be compared to legends such as these, Jesso stands firmly and comfortably on his own as a new and powerful evocative voice. Jesso finds beauty in simplicity, and bravely shows his audience a powerful vulnerability, one that he completely owns. Goon is a gorgeous journey into the heart and mind of someone coming to terms with all sorts of loss, and it’s breathtaking.
Goon is now available via True Panther Sounds. Tobias Jesso, Jr. starts his first solo tour this year, including stops at the Primavera Sound Festival in Spain and Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago.
For more information on Tobias Jesso, Jr., visit his Facebook page.
Corey Bell
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