Sacville, NB's secret son Shotgun Jimmie has released his follow-up album to 2004's 6000 True Stories of Love, and if I may say, "Hooooo-boy!" it's a good one!
The Onlys emanates a warming, flesh-comfort-feel-good attitude replete with singalongs and cereal shanties; songs for the artists, songs for the literatis, and songs for the Janitors, this is a highly relatable album that invites you to hold its heart, but only if it can hold yours. A cute and fun album, but there is something mysterious about it, and makes me want to hear more. At most it's a really great record, and at the least one hell of a story.
It is quite safe for me to say that there are only two types of things about Sackville, NB: one, those that I miss and two, those that I miss terribly. Shotgun Jimmie happens to be of the latter type. Forgive the following backstory...
As it turns out Jim, (and Fred and Paul (of Shotgun & Jaybird) for that matter), were some of my closest fri
ends in Sackville during my undergraduate stint. Their first year as a band (at that time a duo) in Sackville was also my first year as a student, and their last year as a band (having expanded and contracted was now a three-piece) was also my last year. In the in-between parts, when Paul joined as drummer/accountant/muscle, the duo became more versatile and experienced their initial renaissance. Paul eventually left to tend to the accounting/security.
ends in Sackville during my undergraduate stint. Their first year as a band (at that time a duo) in Sackville was also my first year as a student, and their last year as a band (having expanded and contracted was now a three-piece) was also my last year. In the in-between parts, when Paul joined as drummer/accountant/muscle, the duo became more versatile and experienced their initial renaissance. Paul eventually left to tend to the accounting/security.Meanwhile, one Mdme. Julie Doiron (of Eric's Trip) came back to Sackville and started playing with the band and, along with Paul and Jon Claytor, resurrected the once-defunct Sappy Recordslabel. Julie added exquisite melody, a playful charm, and quite frankly, left dozens of people speechless every night she played in Sackville. With Julie, Shotgun & Jaybird were able to push their own envelope and make some incredible music that sounded good and was good. And as her backing band on tour, they made her sound incredible; maybe as good or better than she ever sounded with the Wooden Stars (which won a Juno, by the way).
Anyways, Shotgun & Jaybird ended operations amicably sometime in 2007. Julie and Fred became Blue Heeler and Jim worked on his second solo record. Shotgun & Jaybird, as funny as it sounds, was really one of my favourite things about Sackville. I'll never forget the after hours jam sessions in the Foundry, in mid-February, after running home to get an amp and guitar. Or sitting in Ducky's with Paul talking about music, the upsoming tour, and generally making me feel like this was a real friend, who would do anything for you. Or talking with Fred about invisible forces and waves that are moving around us all the time, and us both trying to talk through some of the impossible physics of the natural world. I feel I really got to understand Jim, Fred and Paul and count them among my true friends and comrades. So anyways, sorry about that ramble and let's get on to the music!
To get an idea where Jim comes from on this record, I understood I had to listen to his earlier solo effort again, 6000 True Stories of Love. It was actually pretty great, as I remembered. Like the earlier Shotgun & Jaybird albums, 6000 is deliciously lo-fi and playful - trademark Jimmie. There are some songs that could be made really spooky and dark like a Songs:Ohia project, but even on those Jim manages to make you smile - by intonation, by pitch, by ukelele. That's what you must understand about Shotgun Jimmie: he has got a natural flair for a good rhyme, a quick lyric, and making it sound safe and good for all to enjoy. There were two distinct parts of Shotgun & Jaybird of course, and you could usually tell who wrote the song by the lyrics: Jim was clearly the guy who wrote the catchy riff song that you would bob your head and stamp your feet to, while Fred was more of the abstract, guitar-driven crafter of beautiful anthems. But this is also to generalize them, which is hard for me to do, so I won't do it (or did I just do it? Hmmm.)
So, from the barren and wistful sounds of 6000 True Stories of Love we come to the considerably more polished enterprise of The Onlys. This album is the love-child between Jimmie and an admixture of things: living in a huge farmhouse in the middle of the marsh; the changing nature of the Shotgun & Jaybird project; and I would speculate, that elusive and mysterious rabbit-muse called Love.
1. "Duet" is a great little opening track. Here is Jim at his best, asking you to help him sing a song while singing the instructions. Beautifully crafted and efficient, with the requisite choppy chords and keyboard drone. Such a playful song it should be on a children's alphabet/phonics learning album.
2. "Sparkelution" starts with driving power guitars before breaking down a bit to reveal a questioning of sorts, about what I need not speculate, "This is looking like an inside job/did someone set us up? Or all we set on self-destruct again? You know I gotta wonder why/and how did we get messed up? When we both made being stuck in a rut." This is actually a pretty sad song in a number of ways and is way more personal I would guess than it presents itself to be.
3. "Onomatopoeia" is very Shotgun & Jaybird and even reminds me of a couple songs/parts of songs they've toyed with before. It is, for all intents and purposes, supposed to be a sing-along power anthem, especially in the chorus. With a full band behind him, he'd blow the lights off most places I can think of with this song. It's also a pretty cute song at its base as well. I mean, we've all been there - the long distance call that doesn't go well - bad connection - whatever. It's also the only song in the universe name "Onomatopoeia."
4. "Summersound" is a beautiful, idyllic song and one of those that makes you smile because you know Jim is beign sincere and absolutely genuine here. "The sound of the fresh cut summer summersong/bring the radios outside/and lemonade in the shade."
5. "Warbler Song" is a delicately crafted song that descends artfully through the chords. It is a soft bird accented with mandolin and love, being hushed to sleep by clouds only it can reach.
6. "Muse Sick" has Jimmie talking about a woman on a mountain bike who he thinks is his 
muse, and the dangers of getting too close to her: "Please listen fellow parasites/to what I have to say. Keep your distance from your muses/for your heart is bound to break." Wise words from a old soul: who does this guy think he is? Homer? Hahahaahahahaha......aaaaaah, um, I'm a geek.
muse, and the dangers of getting too close to her: "Please listen fellow parasites/to what I have to say. Keep your distance from your muses/for your heart is bound to break." Wise words from a old soul: who does this guy think he is? Homer? Hahahaahahahaha......aaaaaah, um, I'm a geek.7. "Bedhead" - This tune starts off with a nice little keyboard riff, pleasant and uplifting with sweet backing vocals. Listen, I know Jim likes this song thoroughly. I can tell by the way he plays it live. A lot of people have told me they would love this song to be on their alarm clock in the morning - Ring Tone anyone??? Though we don't believe him when he says that he's awake the first time, by the time the electric guitar kicks in halfway through the song we know he's not joking around! HOO-BOY!!!.
8. "Pop Shovit to Disaster" is a track that is probably close to Jim's heart as well. He built a skateboard ramp at the old farmhouse while living there, working on and finishing up both projects around the same time, and "Pop Shovit" is clearly an ode to that project. It reminds me of the Flaming Lips or Chad Vangaalen, as it is an instrumental track. The dangers of skateboarding can never be underestimated as one of our good friends in Sackville recently had a spill - don't worry, he's going to be alright - love you Bucky!
9. "Janitor's Luck" was one of my favourite all-time song when the lads were performing together. I heard it maybe 4 years ago for the first time and thought it was the greatest. Little has changed, but the version on The Onlys leaves a lot to be desired. The lyrical work here is amazing, maybe a little incomplete; I would have rather a fuller sounding version of this song, or a stripped down acoustic number. This track is deceiving because it sounds much different live. This should be the SOCAN theme song.
10. "Big City Boi" is a little tongue in cheek song about Jimmie's hometown of Ajax, ON and him missing it. It's a playful song that will speak to those transplanted big-city Canadians living now living in Sackville.
11. "Dark Cloud" is a carry-over from 6000 True Stories of Love and is redone but stays pretty true to the original in tone and presentation. The only difference is it sounds fuller, with some added guitar parts and solos. Taken together with the previous song, the meaning becomes apparent.
12. "Captain Howdy" is a great song that reminds me of hide-and-seek as a child. You were supposed to count to 100 before seeking, but who ever did? I sure as hell didn't. That's how I stayed at the top of my game son. "Captain Howdy" is a fun song that is an odd combo of The Arcade Fire and The Beta Band and ha! what did I tell you? No one counts to 100.
13. "Cereal" is a great album closer: it's just so cute and clever, a modern down home ditty for the early morning riser. Jim writes these kind of songs so well it should be a crime. Taking simple everyday things and really crafting a song that is funny and heartfelt is what Shotgun Jimmie does the best. It's the same with his rock-out songs: extremely good and always easy to listen to.
This is as good as anything Jimmie, either solo or as Shotgun & Jaybird have put out to date. It's a fuller picture and more complete, but that's because it's not Shotgun & Jaybird - this is Shotgun Jimmie. Shotgun & Jaybird albums never really seemed to be complete and always left off like a Lord of the Rings movie - when is the next one? But I think that's a good thing. I think Shotgun & Jaybird was something really special for everyone who cared about music in Sackville, and especially for those who knew them. But nothing lasts forever but the good thing about physics is that no energy is ever destroyed totally; it gets moved and displaced and shaped into other energy somewhere else in the universe. This is like Shotgun & Jaybird. The memory lives, but the energy involved in that process has shifted to other projects, and so it can never totally die; the spectre of the past haunts even the steadiest strumming hand.
Check out Jimmie's cool videos. You can find them on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=shotgun+jimmie featuring videos by Paul Henderson, Jim, Bucky Buckler, Steph d'Etremont, Tim McDonough. All are really good cool and lo-fi.
- Adam Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment