Having been a band for 5 years, Jets to Brazil offers up their 3rd release on Jade Tree Records. "Perfecting Loneliness" was recorded at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, VA with longtime producer J. Robbins. The album is an enhanced CD with bonus visual/audio footage of the band in the studio.
"Perfecting Loneliness" has been out for a few months now, many of the reviews are already in and from those that I have read not too many publications really seem to be giving too much praise to the release. But then again the press didn't really seem to give "Four Cornered Night" that much positive attention and I had that album at the #4 spot in my "Best of 2000" list, and still listen to the album quite a bit. I was never a huge Jawbreaker fan so it's not even that factor that has made me into the Jets to Brazil fan that I'm. Ultimately what it comes down to for me is the fact that what Jets to Brazil presents is something that I personally look for in a release. Solid mid-tempo (for the most part) pop songs with an edge, interesting lyrics and something special to help set it apart from the crowd (talent, creativity, passion).
I feel the focal point for Jets to Brazil has always been in their lyrical content, Blake Schwarzenbach's vocals range/dynamics and the band's talent as a whole. All of which are showcased to what seems to be their fullest extent on this release. Lyrically Schwarzenbach touches on many emotions from joy and sorrow to even taking things a little bit deeper in questioning some more faith based issues. In the bio that Jade Tree sent out with the album they had a few quotes in there from Blake touching on this a bit. "It's about a search for God, search for love, and the failure to find both. I wrote half the songs while alone on a farm in Nova Scotia for six weeks. A lot of the album is definitely a product of that isolation. They began as folk songs, and they seemed like risky propositions. Simple songs with sophisticated themes."
As for "Four Cornered Night" not being received well by the press. Blake seems to have taken that feedback and not only used it to fuel the bands musical fire but lyrical as well. Take "Wish List" for instance..."They took my words and wrote them off as passing, it pissed me off, enough to keep me writing, go make your living boy, I'll go on fighting".
From a musical standpoint the band just doesn't leave off at your typical bass/guitar/drum set-up but incorporates both piano and keyboard as well as a few other instruments into a majority of the songs. They pulled this off on "Four Cornered Night", but not to the extent that they have on this release. Sure there are plenty of other bands that are doing and have done things above and beyond what Jets have done musically on this release. Although with many of those bands (especially the newer indie bands) they either tend to make things too busy when incorporating other instruments or just don't have the skills to pull it off and make it sound good. Most of the songs clock in at anywhere from 5 to 6 minutes, which allow the band to move away from the standard verse chorus verse format and explore their musical abilities to a whole other level without coming across as the "jam band" like Karate has become of late.
Hopefully Jets to Brazil will head out on the road soon so we can hear them play this new material live. I saw them when they toured on "Four Cornered Night" and they were great. In the meantime if you haven't already done so borrow the album from a friend or go out and buy this release, you have to at least give it a chance. Thanks goes out to Jets to Brazil for creating one of the most beautiful and sonically pleasing releases of 2002. Jets to Brazil puts to words and music what I only wish I could communicate through art.
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