Connecticut native Jason Young’s fifth album with his project Heartour entitled R u in illustrates his ongoing progression as a songwriter and performer. The album’s ten songs vary in mood and presentation though there are abiding stylistic elements each cut shares; Young, if nothing else, writes and records albums that always hang together. This latest foray for the project came about after shelving his other project, The Ruse, following spectacular success opening for Muse on three different world tours. Young’s reputation can only be further burnished by this new effort as he tackles each of these ten songs with a rambunctious sense of inspiration and an ear tuned for potential subtleties other performers/songwriters might miss.
It opens in a big screen sort of way with the track “Brain”. Young definitely understands how to best harness electronic instruments for maximum effect and the bevy of sounds he conjures for listeners is difficult to exhaust. Despite its totally modern feel, “Brain” nonetheless relies on some longtime songwriting devices to make a deep impression, namely a powerful chorus Young nails in convincing fashion. He doesn’t have a traditionally lovely singing voice, but it is an expressive instrument that he wisely doesn’t mask too much with effects.
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Few songs on the release make that more apparent than the second track “Refill the Fountain”. Young proves to be the equal of his boisterous musical accompaniment and comes down hard on the lyric without ever overplaying his hand. The second song is a very physical performance that isn’t difficult imagining taking full flight in a live setting. “Dreams To Come” is just as potent and has a number of tempo shifts that help make it one of the more dynamically interesting performances on this release.
You can characterize “Bubbling” as one of the more demure and quieter efforts present on the album. Young thankfully never opts to bludgeon listeners into submission with an army of synthesizer, keyboards, and computer generated music and wisely blends restrained arrangements with more reined in offerings. “The Persuadable Man”, however, is a late entry returning us to the familiar ground of the album’s early tracks with the added caveat of a much more shadowy, even vaguely menacing, arrangement. It likewise features one of the album’s best lyrics that Young delivers with clear focus on each word.
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The penultimate performance, “Dear Future”, has a sharper bounce than many of the other tracks on R u in and interesting percussion sustained from beginning to end. Young sings with great earnestness throughout. The concluding track “Baby Spiders” has a fantastical edge to its lyrical content that Young sings with an utter lack of self-consciousness and the mix of words and music has a valedictory feel – it is the album’s obvious closer and no other track would have worked so well in that spot. The fifth release from Heartour R u in comes across as a recording of intense personal meaning for Young and has enough variety to hold your attention for the entirety of the release.
Jodi Marxbury