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Mason Jennings - Blood Of Man

Rating

RIYL

Bob Dylan
Ben Kweller
Jack Johnson

Release Date

09/15/2009

Label

Brushfire Records

Tracklist

1.) City Ghosts
2.) Pittsburgh
3.) The Field
4.) Tourist
5.) Black Wind Blowing
6.) Ain’t No Friend of Mine
7.) Sing Out
8.) Sunlight
9.) Lonely Road
10.) Blood of Man

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Welcome to Mason Jennings’ lo-fi album, where hollowed out guitar tones and copious amounts of reverb are in wide selection. Jack Johnson’s discovery has abandoned his folk roots for the most part, which was the basis of his previous album In the Ever. With Blood of Man, Jennings has adopted Ben Kweller’s formula for poppy, noodley rock tracks and instead of the acoustic guitar, he has become better friends with the electric to produce a heavier sound. Unfortunately, his charm has faded away a little on this album, which leads to some of the tracks being more forgettable than enjoyable.

Jennings has always been known for his talent to pen impressive and novel-like lyrics. His voice has the quality that could be compared to Bob Dylan, that is, if Bob Dylan could actually sing in key. Combined with his story telling ability and Dylan-esque voice, he is one of the more powerful folk performers we have today. He proves he can still tell a memorable story in songs like “Pittsburgh” where he rambles about his mother and her lover fornicating, his friend’s girlfriend overdosing and the scenery of her funeral, and his stint on suicide watch. The album holds spooky themes found in songs like “Black Wind Blowing” where he walks into his house to find his girlfriend on the floor with blood everywhere after attempting to commit suicide. On a more humorous note, songs like “Pittsburgh” and “Black Wind Blowing” are ironically backed by upbeat folk riffs that are familiar to what was on In the Ever. Still, even when he’s not telling a cohesive story, there is always a heading message attached to his lyrics that aren’t difficult to grasp.

“Tourist” is a song about self-doubt and wanting to find new land to settle on as he sings, “Honey there’s a boat and it waits for us / Somewhere there’s a town and it waits for us / It could be perfect if it wasn’t for us / Momma we’re in love with a memory / A perfect dream of how it used to be / When our hair was windy and our nights were free / There’s a tourist in every heart / It sees what it wants to see.” As a more somber song, it captures the essence of anxiety one might feel when they have grown tired with their surroundings. Most of his songs are usually stripped down, not adding much to the already working formula, that is, until he decides to mix things up a bit.

Catching most listeners by surprise; well, those who are listeners of Jennings’ work, will jump when the sweltering opening notes of “Ain’t No Friend of Mine” pump through their ears. The song sounds like it is straight out of a classic rock song book with musical stylings similar to current bands like The Raconteurs and older acts like Jimi Hendrix. There is no other song on Blood of Man that comes close to the energy of this song, but it’s a lovely diamond in the rough.

His one sore spot on the album comes in the form of a song drowning in low-end called “Sing Out.” The song drones on as it holds no sort of captivating quality, leading you to forget you’re even listening to anything. Luckily, the album quickly turns around with the cutesy “Sunlight”, which finds him describing a perfect moment with a lover, and the obnoxiously poppy “Lonely Road”. The album closes on a powerful note as Jennings serenades us with the graceful acoustic track titled “Blood of Man”, a song about moving on into the afterlife.

While almost all of the songs on Jennings’ eighth studio release, his second on Jackson’s Brushfire Records, are fun and easily accessible, the album doesn’t have the quality to make listeners want to come back for repeated visits. Most fans of his earlier work would hopefully agree that Jennings does have the ability to put out a better record than Blood of Man.

--Andrew Beam