Jandek @ Rose Marine Theater

Based on the admittedly small amount of research I've done on Jandek, I would venture to say that his show at Rose Marine Theater on Saturday night was one of the most structured and digestible performances he's given since his emergence from anonymity a couple years ago. This is not to say that the music wasn't strange, because it was; and it's also not as if Saturday was the first time he's ventured into the realm of more traditionally structured music, because it wasn't. It's just that the unique combination of musicians accompanying him on Saturday night helped to make his music sound quite different than most of the recorded Jandek material I've heard, and for the most part, this had the effect of bringing his vision closer to tangible, every day life than I imagined it ever could be.

Ok, let me explain. To me, Jandek's music brings to mind Sigmund Freud's initial conception of dreams and the unconscious. Particularly in his early material (with which I am most familiar), Jandek's method of writing, playing and recording music seemed to draw the listener into the dark, playful and often painful world of the unconscious through the dreamlike atmosphere of the material. Just as Freud believed that dreams were something of an open door into the unconscious, Jandek's music acts as a gateway to the darkest and most inexplicable spaces of the artist's mind, inviting you into a world of surrealist images, random thoughts and flowing, often structureless sounds that seem to be guided by anything but coherent rationality. Essentially, Jandek songs remind me of those last few moments before you fall asleep at night, as you slowly lose control of your thoughts while maintaining awareness of them as you drift off. And more than just about any other musician I can think of, it sounds, at least to me, that Jandek is trying to make some kind of direct presentation of his unconscious existence, turning songs and lyrics into bits and pieces of surreal dreamscapes as he invites the listener inside his mind.

What made Saturday so different was the pull between the aforementioned qualities of Jandek's music and the performances of Ryan Williams, Will Johnson, Ralph White and Susan Alcorn. Although the music they played was fairly abstract, formless and experimental by most standards, the elements of jazz, folk and country that were apparent throughout the set seemed to keep Jandek's vocal and harmonica performance grounded in waking life, not quite permitting him to go to the deeper, darker place he goes in much of his most striking recorded material. This might sound like a bad thing at first, but it was honestly quite intriguing. As the bits and pieces of more traditional American music faded in and out of the largely avant garde set, it became quite exciting to watch Jandek interact with a group of musicians that seemed to come together quite well despite having no idea what to expect. Although under most circumstances their performances would qualify as subtle and strange, with Jandek, the music often came across as bold and colorful, revealing ways in which his haunting vision could work in an entirely different musical context while honoring the abstract nature of his work. The backing musicians seemed to effectively challenge Jandek to work and interact with them, pulling his highly introverted style outwards while giving him the space he needed to remain in the personal zone he seems to invite us all into. These contradictions between the band and their leader created a tangible tension in the room that made his performance quite powerful despite the fact that he always maintained the detached and self involved persona that makes his music so intimate yet so foreign. It was as if the audience was being invited back into Jandek's house, just like we are on his records, only this time, he had friends over. And he wasn't exactly sure about them just yet.

Of course, I've probably heard less than 1/4 of his vast catalogue, and there very well could be many other instances of such interaction in Jandek's history (I'm aware that he has recorded with other people, for example). It's just that it was great to see him play live with complete strangers, participating in a give and take that I couldn't possibly have imagined the first time I heard his first album. And I'm sure that back when he was recording Ready for the House in 1978, he probably couldn't have imagined himself on a stage in Ft. Worth either, playing in front of a group of people that were happy to once again explore his mind.