One Track Mind

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Jason Collett’s had a busy decade. The Torontonian songwriter and guitarist has three excellent solo records under his belt, beginning with 2001′s Bitter Beauty and through 2008′s Here’s to Being Here, in addition to having been a member of Canadian indie supergroup Broken Social Scene for most of that same stretch. He’s also married and a father of four children, but that hasn’t slowed down his output at all: on March 9th, Collett released his fourth solo record. Rat A Tat Tat was published by his long-time record label, Arts & Crafts, which is home to releases by Stars, Feist, The Stills, Constantines, and of course, Broken Social Scene.

Rat A Tat Tat found Collett recording with his new backing band (and fellow Arts & Crafts signees) Zeus, and the collaboration is a fruitful one, indeed. Zeus seem to be naturally clued in to Collett’s musical sensibilities: a fondness for elements of classic rock, a taste for a slight twang, a proclivity toward earnest tunes that don’t mind kicking up some dust. The cheekily titled “Love Is A Dirty Word,” the record’s third track, is a playful meditation on romance and passion, a ballad with bite. Guitar chords don’t grate away; rather, they are used sparingly and sharply to punctuate the shifty, off-kilter verses. Collett’s voice is as stong an instrument as ever, inflected with just enough of that Dylanesque flair to feel familiar but still wholly Jason’s own.

The recipe for “Love Is A Dirty Word” doesn’t call for many ingredients. However, everything is incorporated in perfect proportion–an ideal blend of the sweet and the salty that clocks in at a tight two minutes and forty-two seconds.