Jonathan Person — born Jonathan Robert, member of the Corridor group — is releasing a third solo album. With songs that address themes of nostalgia, burnout and our fleeting indignation.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
On his second album, he joked that he went from lo fi to mid fi. Jonathan Nobody is still in fashion hi fi with his eight new songs, but he allowed himself — among other things — more polished orchestral pop arrangements, and even kitsch.
The hazy sound, rock soul and dark side of Jonathan Nobody remain, but the artist had a field day with director Emmanuel Éthier in the studio. The voice is even in the foreground on A faceless man, he points out. “It’s downright song,” he says. I pleasantly surprised myself. »
On his album Disappearances, released two years ago, the one who is also a member of the Corridor group wanted to have a narrative thread throughout the album. This was not the case this time. “I wanted to create songs with isolated stories that sound better out of context. »
As his director friend Emmanuel Éthier said, this is the album greatest hits by Jonathan Nobody.
Its eight songs were written in a happier context than those of Disappearances, who was following a frenetic pace of touring… “I can say it now, but I made a burnout “, he relates.
The pressure was great with his group Corridor, which launched the album in 2019 Junior internationally with nothing less than the legendary label of Sub Pop Records.
Two songs from his eponymous album refer to his dark period, namely Golden Rush, which features a prospector who ends up digging his grave without finding what he is looking for. “It’s the idea of killing yourself at work”, explains Jonathan Nobody.
As for Tars and feathersshe illustrates how what we love can end up doing us harm by citing the example of a compulsive gambler.
“Both pathetic and beautiful”
His extract released in the spring, Rock & roll on your way (reminding Sultans of Swing, of Dire Straits!), bears witness to what he has just told us. “It’s the glam song on the album. With someone who clings to a bygone era. It’s both pathetic and beautiful,” explains the artist.
Jonathan Nobody has a love-hate relationship with his propensity to be melancholic and nostalgic. “I’m fighting this…I don’t want to live in the past. »
His song The madman in the tree — a heartfelt tribute to Neil Young — refers to our quick and fleeting outrage. “The rapid disinterest of the current era. Like a village gathering around a madman in the tree. Once the lynching is done, we quickly move on. »
At Jonathan Person, the gloomy rubs shoulders with the hope of better times. We recognize the touch of the illustrator (we owe him the cover of Lisa LeBlanc’s most recent album) by the use of strong images.
New source of light in his life: his one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. His girlfriend was pregnant when he wrote the songs for his new album in his chalet in the Laurentians. The cover, which he illustrated, testifies to the contrast between the disastrous atmosphere of the pandemic and the candor of childhood.
PICTURE PROVIDED
Cover of Jonathan Nobody’s third album
Jonathan Person was far from suspecting that his acoustic compositions “guitars and voices” would end up having the magnitude they took in the studio with Emmanuel Éthier and his musicians Samuel Gougoux (drums), Julian Perreault (guitar) and Mathieu Cloutier (low).
The opening room, Now, has its “Wall of Sound”. Here, we hear the sound of an amp giving up the ghost. There, we guess sounds of mellotron, bongo and lapsteel in an unlikely happy mixture.
Singer in spite of himself
“I feel extremely free with this project. It grows naturally. It’s the best of both worlds,” says Jonathan Nobody.
“It’s liberating. In a group, the dynamic can be confrontational… After three albums, the creative pressure is there. There are spats. It’s normal with strong heads working together. »
The man who became Corridor’s co-singer “by default” with Dominic Berthiaume – because no member wanted to fully assume this task – does not consider himself today as a lead singer extrovert, but he assumes his status as a lyricist and singer. His high-pitched and airy singing also reminds us of that of Jace Lasek of the Besnard Lakes.
So far, Jonathan Nobody has performed only three shows under this name.
Six will be on the program shortly, including the launch at the Fairmount on September 28 as part of Pop Montreal. “It’s going to be a good set ! “, he assures.
A set of greatest hits.