Jon Brion, Meaningless

Self-released

Matthew Weiner

Often, a breadth of music knowledge isn't exactly the advantage an aspiring singer-songwriter might suppose. Instead of the informed meta-pop the artist imagines, it's usually less than the sum of its parts and too-cute by half—half-baked melodies with overcooked arrangements, augmented with Beach Boys sleigh bells (for further research, see the High Llamas).

Jon Brion would seem to be a prime candidate for this affliction. With a resume that reads like the All Music Guide, it would frankly be surprising if his own music had any personality at all. But prepare to be surprised. Despite his tenure with pop-fetishists Jellyfish and his work with Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple and Macy Gray (among others...MANY others), his debut, Meaningless, is anything but a producer's album, while still, in many regards, exactly what you would expect. All the elements are here: famous guests, flashy arrangements, genre-hopping, even a Cheap Trick cover (wink, wink). But it's all handled with enough sensitivity to let Brion's surehanded songs shine through. The album's opening one-two punch, "Gotta Start Somewhere" and "I Believe She's Lying," are perhaps the record's most successful moments, with the latter in particular achieving a brilliant synthesis of Prefab Sprout's angular melody, breakbeat and vocoded electro all at once.

But a fast start doesn't let down from there, though. "Ruin My Day," is Brion at his most Mannish, stately, elegant and melancholy. And his collaboration with Grant Lee Phillips, "Walking Through Walls" is hysterical: with an arrangement that recalls early, fuzzy guitar-era 10cc, the song liberally strews Beatlesque "motherfuckers" over a Gary Glitter beat and a thrilling bridge. Thereafter, Meaningless downshifts into ballad territory, with a series of medleys and a cover of Cheap Trick's "Voices" that does betray the pace a bit, despite their quality and general tastefulness.

That's not to say that Meaningless is the sort of timid, coffee-table styled vanity project other producers, like Mitchell Froom, have released to an unenthusiastic public; Brion's songs leave a distinct impression and it's not because they sound like someone else. They're simply well-written and passionate, not qualities you expect from someone better known for sound than song. In many respects, as evidenced by his collaborations with Aimee Mann in which he co-wrote, produced and played many of the instruments, Brion is the millennial version of the singer-songwriter, except, in the age of the computer workstation, he's singer, songwriter, producer, arranger and engineer.

Ready for release in 1999 following his work on the Magnolia score, an Atlantic records A&R man told Brion Meaningless was too good to let get tied up in major label legal battles, and ended up freeing him from his contract to release the record himself (through his site, jonbrion.com). We should thank him. Though Brion's debut may not rely on personality—his voice is fairly anonymous—it's a thoroughly enjoyable listen and a grower to boot. And while Meaningless may be a triumph of craft over pure inspiration in some aspects, its music remains as powerful a testament to the value of the latter—a theorem once posed by Brion's heroes Bacharach and Badfinger—as there ever was. Very seventies, indeed.

Related resources

You can order this self-released album from Jon Brion's website.