onelinedrawing
Also credited as Jonah's Onelinedrawing
San Francisco, California7 reviews across 3 releases
onelinedrawing is the solo project of Jonah Matranga, begun in California after his band Far broke up in late 1998. Its first recordings were home-made acoustic songs, and Sketchy E.P. #1 presented them in deliberately or accidentally rough form: soft guitar, a pleasing voice, scattered samples, and production one reviewer likened to a four-track overload. The material could feel slow and emotionally restrained, but another contemporary account singled out its passion and the songs "Aeroplanes" and "14 to 41." By Visitor, released in 2002, the setup had widened to acoustic guitar with mild keyboard and occasional samples, while the writing leaned toward melancholy romance and pop hooks. The Volunteers moved further toward electric pop without abandoning ballads, giving the project a more polished bridge between its bedroom beginnings and Matranga's earlier rock work.
In 2000, Matranga formed New End Original as a full-band version of the onelinedrawing material, with Norman Arenas, Scott Winegard, and Charlie Walker; the group released its only album in 2001. It broke up on tour after Walker and Winegard left suddenly. Matranga then released The Volunteers in 2004, the last album issued under the name before he retired the moniker and continued as a solo artist under his own name. He joined Gratitude, whose album appeared in 2005, but that band ended later the same year. Far reunited for new work in 2010, while Matranga continued touring and releasing music independently. By 2026, he was again using onelinedrawing for new recordings and full-band shows, after a long period in which the name had referred mainly to his earlier solo catalog.
