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Jonathan Meek & The Mutes – Irony & Pity
2008, Jonathan Meek/Meek And The Mute Music
Jonathan Meek is the son of a preacher man. His earliest musical influences were the hymns from his father’s church, and this ingrained a sense of melody in him from a young age. He quickly graduated to influences such as Nick Cave, Elvis Costello & Neko Case. He studied classical theory in college, but found his muse while busking on the streets of Santa Cruz. 2008 sees the release of Jonathan Meek’s first album, Iron & Pity. With the support of The Mutes, Meek has released an interesting and powerful debut.
Meek has a sound that runs somewhere down the line between idols Costello and Nick Cave, and occasionally veers into Jim Morrison territory. Meek’s songs aren’t big on pop hooks, but are more like short films in musical form. Meek writes strongly in images, that he conveys with his eccentric voice. Irony & Pity opens with The City I Love, which comes across as kind of a post-punk Doors tune. Spark & No Fire falls into the simple melody and simple sonic overcoat song construction that Meek seems to like. It’s a simple but infectious melody. Spark & No Fire is easily my favorite song on the EP.
From The West sounds like early Costello, while On The Way Down has an accessible melody with some great harmonies. The set closes out with Take A Look, which takes on a bardic quality, as if you’re listening to one of the last great Troubadours.
It’s way too early in Meek’s career to make that assessment, but keep it in mind. Jonathan Meek isn’t quite like anyone else in the pop scene at the moment. If I had to guess I wouldn’t say that Jonathan Meek & The Mutes would ever be the darlings of the music scene. I do seem them as being the sort of band that ten years on and 7 or so albums down the road has a fiercely loyal following that follow them around and keep them eating and living well.
Irony & Pity is a bit different from the usual pop/rock stuff you might here. It’s a little bit darker and a little more simplistic in construction than a lot of stuff out there. This less-is-more approach to writing creates starkly beautiful landscapes against which Meek can tell you his stories. If Irony & Pity is any indication, you’ll want to listen.
Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5) - Wildy Haskell
Along with all the trials and triumphs that it takes for a person to evolve, making music is sometimes a necessary part of the process, and sometimes it’s a reflection of that process.
Livermore musician Jonathan Meek recently put together his first EP, Irony and Pity, and the common theme threading together the five-song album has to do with the struggle of growing up.
The second song on Irony and Pity, “Spark And No Fire” evokes the shadowy feeling of adolescent desolation redeemed by occasional glimmers of hope that possibly await in the unknown future of adulthood.
“This track is probably the most personal song on the record. In a general
sense it’s just dealing with the overall theme of maturing and the process involved,” Meek said about “Spark and No Fire.”
“The concept of a spark that doesn’t lead to fire is just the idea of the idealism of youth and the exuberance in the goals you have for your life when you’re young that can burn out as you enter into the real world and face responsibility.”
Other tracks such as “The City I Love,” and “From the West” move quicker than “Spark and No Fire” but keep the feeling of determination through ambiguity.
Meek pulls inspiration from Nick Cave, Neko Case and Elvis Costello and the familiar tunes of choir and church music. He composed the album in the humble space of the local church where his father preaches.
Recording buddy and co-producer Mike Mittelstedt and Meek put together Irony and Pity at the church “because it’s got a lot of rooms of various shapes and sizes so we could experiment with different sounds and spaces without bothering anyone,” Meek said. “So it was a huge artistic process that was incredibly rewarding.”
Except for the two tracks that his brother Nathaniel lent his hand(s) on the drums, Meek played and sang all of the music himself.
He said that making the album was easy compared to releasing it. “Basically, it costs a lot of money and there’s very little chance of getting that money back. So it’s a risk and a sacrifice.” But like many musicians who toil with the financial uncertainty that their work affords them, Meek said that it’s a risk worth taking. - Bandsofthebay.com
Jonathan Meek & the Mutes' sound bursts out of the cage with an immediate intensity; a slushy mixture of warbly, irregular melody that cuts through the mildewy self-consciousness of capital 'I' Indie Rock like lemon juice on a 3rd degree burn, and then sounds like Nick Drake joined early Radiohead, reasserting that amidst all the poseurs, there is still a life in the scene - a blistered beating heart with a head drunk with ideas." by Ighuaran - musiczeitgeist.com
First off, there are no Mutes: Livermore's Jonathan Meek does almost everything here, from singing and playing all the instruments (minus his brother's drumming on two tracks) to recording (in the local church where his father preaches). The songs are a mixed batch of DIY rock, at their best when Meek and his guitar let loose. (self-released) - East Bay Express
By Phil Lehman
Liking this album came out of nowhere for me. The first minute of the EP’s opening track, “The City I Love,” is fine -- but nothing to take note of: grungy and guitar-driven with some extremely fuzzed-out leads. Then the chorus kicks in and the song transforms with rich harmonies and a clear organ backdrop. Guitar and drums take a backseat. The change was entirely unexpected and I actually had to backtrack to make sure I heard it right. The second track, “Spark,” starts similarly; again, it’s not until the minute mark that a chorus in harmony seems to lift the song out of a dark, introspective lilt.
Meek’s voice is not necessarily one that would aspire to fantastical vocal heights. However, the Livermore resident seems to be the rare case of a lead singer far more comfortable singing in harmony with other voices than solo. And he uses this to his advantage in each song. While the album was very much a DIY project and the fuzzboxes belie the music's rock roots, the harmonies create lush textures across grunge landscapes that give the songs a transcendent quality. Given the album was recorded in the church where Jonathan’s father preaches, this should come as no surprise.
Quite simply, I haven’t heard harmonies layered with guitar work this effectively in a long while. “From the West” embodies this perfectly. Again, super-saturated guitar leads (think Brian Eno) intertwine with simple melodies over acoustic guitar. And amidst it all, Meek croons, “I’m an island.” The effect gives the listener a sense of the ebbs and flows, and ultimately, the violent crash of the tides against a lone soul.
Or something like that.
The songs themselves are deeply introspective, and the different voices found in each song –- whether they be instrumental or human -– express the myriad points of view at battle within us all: at times discordant, at times in unison.
The last track, “Take a Look,” may be my favorite -– weaving in and out of a dreamy verse in which at one point Meek asks, “Where did my love go?” and transitions into a peppy, upbeat chorus where he answers himself: “Now that I’m older, I can see things as they are.”
Overall, the EP is more ambitious than the band’s name or the album title, Irony and Pity, give it credit for. Meek cuts to the quick of things we have all grappled with at one time or another without being pretentious, patronizing, or obvious. His debut is, most importantly, a genuine reflection of the songwriter. - NASCENT magazine
Discography
EP - "Irony & Pity" 2008
Photos
Bio
Jonathan Meek is not timid about his new self-released EP, Irony & Pity. “I want this to be something awesome and real and different,” he says. The record, like Jonathan himself, is all of those things and more.
Irony & Pity is completely DIY: recorded and mixed in the local church where Jonathan’s dad preaches. It’s credited to Jonathan Meek & the Mutes, but nearly every note recorded was performed by Jonathan himself. His brother, Nathaniel Meek, lent his talents as a drummer for two of the five tracks, and Mike Mittelstedt, Jonathan’s fellow band member in the San Francisco group the Fair Saints, engineered and co-produced. “Having [Mike] there engineering and giving me feedback gave me such enormous freedom and confidence, so that a lot of the record could just fall into place. Most of what you hear was written right there during the session.” The energy and the feel of the music make it hard for the listener to believe that only three people were involved in producing it; and clearly the inspirations for the record are literally countless.
Jonathan’s musical development began in his childhood in a small town outside of Reno, Nevada, where his father preached and led music in the local church, and his mother played the piano. The influence of the simple melodies and rich harmonies of the traditional hymns in Jonathan’s music cannot be understated. Especially in songs like the opening track “The City I Love,” a wiry, jagged, riff-driven tune that opens up in the chorus to a full choir and church organ, calling to mind early hymns of redemption. The artists that have inspired him since his early days in the church, including Elvis Costello, Neko Case, and especially Nick Cave, have served only to strengthen that influence. “Boatman’s Call by Nick Cave is my single favorite record, and ultimately is what pushed me to make Irony & Pity. The textures and the chords and the lyrics to me are perfect. I want to make music like that.”
Jonathan continued to pursue his musical interest through college, and in due time received a degree in music from the University of California in Santa Cruz where he studied Classical theory and performed in orchestras, opera, and chamber ensembles. As a break from all the “serious” music, he would often take his guitar out onto the streets of Santa Cruz and perform to whoever would listen. “Playing on the street is really an experience,” he says. “Just finding out what grabs people. Sometimes I’d get a little crowd gathered around me listening, and I’d play for hours at a time. Afterwards I’d go through my guitar case to count the tips and find all sorts of things: incense, candies, girls’ phone numbers. It’s fun.”
His love for performing continues, and he views the release of this record as just the first step toward his music being heard by, and performed to as many people as possible. Not a very modest goal for someone named Meek.
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