ThunderRadio music review
Artist: Mason Jennings
Album: Boneclouds
Label: Glacial Pace
Grade: A
Mason Jennings has a voice that is slightly broken and down to earth, and he writes music that seems old and modern at the same time.
His latest album is his first for a major label, which is something that he avoided for his previous records, fearing he would lose his artistic insight.
After being pestered by Modest Mouse frontman Issac Brock about his new record label, Glacial Pace — a subsidiary of Sony Recording, Jennings moved forward with the idea knowing that Brock would treat his music more as a growth process than a product.
In the end, Boneclouds came out a little more produced and a little bolder than Jennings’ previous albums, but it still maintains his sensibility. Jennings seems to even open up a little more on the album.
At age 16, Jennings dropped out of school to pursue a musical career and settled in Minneapolis.
He started out playing gigs as the Mason Jennings Band at the 400 Club in downtown Minneapolis and released four albums prior to Boneclouds.
Though not in school, he continues to educate himself with a particular fondness to the spiritual aspect of life, and he is not afraid to voice it on his albums either. On the track “Jesus Are You Real,” he questions religion.
In 2004, Jennings became a father and you can hear him express his love for his child on “If You Ain’t Got Love.”
On the song “Moon Sailing on The Water,” Jennings’ wife, Amy, shares some of the song duties with him. This makes for an interesting album.
Boneclouds is for fans of Wilco, Jack Johnson, and Rufus Wainwright.