Jason Collett

Rat a Tat Tat (Arts & Crafts)

By Kelley Hecker
Published: March 25th, 2010 | 7:00am

Toronto singer-songwriter Jason Collett knows how to craft a tune. Rat a Tat Tat, his fifth full-length album, displays his willingness to explore a variety of sounds and helps him to stand out amongst his alt-country contemporaries. After the questionable down-tempo opener “Rave on Sad Songs,” the record picks up considerably, and Collett gets downright playful on “Love Is a Dirty Word,” a pop tune driven by a slinky bass line.

“Lake Superior,” an ode to, well, Lake Superior, is a rock number cloaked in a haze of reverb while the lively piano-and-handclaps propelled “Love Is a Chain” is about a hot ‘n’ cold relationship with Collett singing “We fight and then we fuck / And then we fight all over again / It never ends.” (No “You PMS / Like a bitch / I would know” here.) Collett is often compared to Dylan, and his Dylan-esque qualities are most apparent on the disappointing closer “Vanderpool Vanderpool.” (The way he utters “Jesus has left Chicago” is flat-out irritating.) Despite the weak beginning and end, Rat a Tat Tat is a solid album and should further establish Collett as a competent solo artist, rather than just “that guy from Broken Social Scene.”

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Arts & Crafts