by LORRAINE CARPENTER

A musician who fesses up to their new record’s game plan is rarer than a palm tree in Petawawa. Of course, not every record is the result of preconception, but for some reason, nothing rubs a musician the wrong way like the inference that theirs was. It amuses me to hear defences go up and gauntlets come off—luckily, most of my interviews are phoners. But Jason Kent, of the Sonny Best Band, the John Lennox band and Bodega, slapped me with sheer honesty instead.

“I was sort of going for something between the Beatles and Neil Young and Air, somewhere just teetering on all three of them,” says Kent of his self-titled solo debut, available exclusively at this weekend’s CD launch. “That song from The Virgin Suicides, ‘Playground Love’—I’ve re-written that song about five times. I’m still rewriting it, actually.”

Shocking. And if “Any Old Day” is any indication, Kent is almost as fond of Iggy Pop’s “Nightclubbing.” It may not be entirely novel, but his country-coated, acid-laced pop is unique in its ambiance and eclectic scope, demonstrated in disparate songs like the tender, tranquil “Midnight Love” and the near-funky “Back in Me.” Kent’s experience shines through everything from his soothing vocals, often in harmony with Angela Desveaux, to his dewy keyboards and crisp guitars. On stage, Kent will be backed by Phil Burns, Dave Lavoie, Jason Beverage and Jason Bratberg (all but Beverage are fellow alumni of Soft Canyon), but he handled most of the instruments on the record himself.

Lyrically, Kent’s subject matter is as warm and familiar as some of his melodies. Love, loss and Americana dominate his compositions, and he has the dubious distinction of being the fifth Canadian in recent memory to pen a song called “California” (the other four being Rufus Wainwright, Sara Slean, Wave and the Moffats).

“I felt really cheesy doing it, and I got a bit of heat from a couple of friends, you know, ‘I can’t believe you’re writing about California, why not Manitoba?’ (singing) ‘Oh, Manitoba,’ ‘Oh, Nova Scotia.’ I tried other American states like Pennsylvania and North Dakota and Carolina, but [California] was just right. It’s sort of a sunny song, and you always associate sunny times and happy times with California. It’s a real romantic place.”

As long as you steer clear of all the gun-toting, knife-wielding celebrities, gangland drive-bys, high-speed car chases, messianic death cults and mercenary robot governors, of course. Kent chose to voice a more idealized vision of California, perhaps hearkening back to more innocent times. But if he’d had it his way, he wouldn’t have voiced it himself.

“I don’t know if I should say this, but it was basically written for Neil Young to sing,” he says. “My ultimate album would be to have him sing that song, and Beck would sing a song, ‘Setting Hearts,’ which is more a reflection of Beck than trying to rip him off. I’d also have Leonard Cohen sing a song. But this one’s for Neil. Thing is, it’s very difficult to get in touch with Neil Young.”

CD launch with Caroline Glass at O Patro Vys
on Saturday, Nov. 25, 11 p.m.

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