Portrait of a Dog

Montreal-based musician Jonah Yano made an impression with a 2020 debut album that not only incorporated elements of jazz, soul, hip-hop, and electronic music into his intimate and dreamy songs but touched on personal issues surrounding a then-recent reconciliation with his long-absent father. Three years later, the follow-up, Portrait of a Dog, leans more heavily into jazz influences, including instrumental explorations and improvisation, while still processing the familial and adding a breakup to the mix. Co-produced by Yano and the also-eclectic BadBadNotGood, the albums 12 songs vary greatly in length, with the under-two-minute "Leslianne" starting things off quietly with shuffling beats and shifting meters and key centers. Its core guitar, piano, upright bass, and drums combo is augmented by melodic cello and lyrical sentiments of better days to come. The songs bittersweet, yearning tone sets the stage for much of Portrait of a Dog, which also includes the more impressionistic and haunting (and unexpectedly languid) "The Speed of Sound!," a cover of Vashti Bunyans "Glow Worms," and feature spots for such wide-ranging artists as rapper/vocalist Slauson Malone ("In Sun, Out of Sun") and experimental dream pop musician Sea Oleena. The latter appears on "Quietly, Entirely," a song that opens with a ghostly, sustained sound that might be instrument-produced or might be processed crickets or ambient infrastructure. The sound of wind and Sea Oleenas breathy vocals precede the entry of the albums more lucid improvisational ensemble and, eventually, Yanos voice ("Remember that you have to let go"). After a solo Yanos "Song About the Family House," the record ends on an over-six-minute full-on instrumental jazz jam (featuring tenor saxophonist Leland Whitty and written by BadBadNotGoods Chester Hansen), "The Ordinary Is Ordinary Because It Ordinarily Repeats," which doesnt even feature Yano, as if he stayed behind in the family home. ~ Marcy Donelson

広島県出身でモントリオールを拠点に活動するシンガー・ソングライターのセカンド・アルバム。日系カナダ人として生きるなかで生じた複雑な気持ちを反映した歌詞は、味わい深い情動を醸している。ひとつひとつの言葉が心に刺さり、ゆっくりと耳に沁みわたる。フォークとジャズの要素が目立つサウンドも聴きどころだ。心地良いメロディーは親しみやすさが際立ち、アレンジの多彩さからは音楽的引き出しの多さが窺える。
bounce (C)近藤真弥