Jason Falkner

Jason Falkner has quietly built up an insanely stuffed resume positioning him as one of the most effective utility players in '90s (and beyond) power pop. He jumped from an early stint as part of The Three O'Clock to a job as Jellyfish's guitarist at the time of that band's first album. But not able to fit his songs in around the prodigious output of Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning, Falkner jumped ship and formed the Grays with Jon Brion + co, releasing one album with that band in 1994.

This "band" thing was just not working out for the extremely talented musician, so he decided to go the solo route. No, really. This ain't Nick Carter's brand of "solo" music, where the guy who sings has the album named after him. Falkner played every single instrument and sang all the parts on 1996's Author Unknown and 1999's Can You Still Feel? (and of course, the rarities collection Necessity: The 4-Track Years).

He has also contributed many talents and sounds to albums by Eric Matthews, Air, Brendan Benson, Chris Cornell, Beck, Aimee Mann, Susanna Hoffs, Travis, etc.., and Falkner released in 2001 an orchestral album of instrumental versions of Beatles songs. I guess you can play it to your kids, put 'em to sleep. Get them started early on this Falkner guy.

Album reviews

Necessity: The 4-Track Years
spinART (2001)
Former Jellyfish and Grays man invites us into his bedroom for some hot four-track action.

Can You Still Feel?
Elektra (1999)
The studio recording age has expanded the range of possibilities for consummate artists.

Interviews

Learning To Say No
November 16, 2004
Jason Falkner is all over the place. Musically, that is. Physically, he's in Los Angeles. Well, actually he's in Norway now. And he's probably on at least five CDs in your collection.