Album Review: J Gray-- J Stop Playing Those Sad Songs

It's been nearly a year since our infamous Matthew and the Arrogant Sea article was published, and despite some of the negative implications of that experience, I'm still somewhat intrigued by the group of musicians involved in the project. After spending a couple weeks interviewing with us and sharing the details of a phony record deal that turned out to be either a fragment of one person's imagination or the centerpiece of one of the most dumbfounding publicity stunts in recent local music history (depending on who you ask), Matthew and the Arrogant Sea and its related solo and side projects simply soldiered on during and after the "phony record deal" fallout in the local media, producing a constant stream of material under a handful of different monikers that has been a bit inconsistent at times, but generally more interesting than most of the "indie" folk fodder that passes for "buzzworthy" in DFW/Denton these days. In the process, the group noticeably raised their profile, playing frequent gigs with larger, more established acts while attaining greater recognition in the media and cementing their reputation as a band or group of bands that people tend to take interest in. Dismiss this modest rise in popularity as fickle, flavor of the month favoritism if you must, but it is difficult to deny that MATAS and its many offshoots have produced some solid material here and there, and their prolific recording tendencies and constant reinvention and exploration certainly have to be admired on some level.  

One of the most impressive talents to emerge from Matthew and the Arrogant Sea is J Gray, a 16 year old songwriter who, at times, quite honestly soars above any similar recording artist in the area, including his MATAS band mates. His debut full length, J Stop Playing Those Sad Songs, is a consistent and imaginative collection of haunted, touching songs that reveals both the surprising strengths and predictable shortcomings of a young yet highly talented musician who is just finding his bearings as a recording artist.

Gray's debut is truly an article of the Myspace/bit torrent era in the sense that it plays like a collection of individual tracks rather than a work created as a coherent, multi-part whole. This isn't to say that the whole thing isn't worth listening to, but rather an observation concerning the stand-alone, isolated feel of most of these songs. This tends to work against the album a bit in the sense that some of the songs flirt with repetitiveness and redundancy by the time you get through with them, but the fact that it doesn't end up being much of a problem really says something about the strength of Gray's songwriting and the highlights that make his debut a relatively impressive achievement, particularly for a self released, home recorded offering.  

The record's obvious calling card is Gray's emotive and highly distinctive vocal performance, stylistically hinting at a diverse array of talents like the Fleetwoods' Gary Troxell, frog-in-the-throat Nashville Skyline era Bob Dylan, and even Scritti Politti's Green Gartside, all the while managing to avoid sounding enough like any of the aforementioned vocalists (or anyone else, for that matter) to garner any straight up comparisons. Gray appears to be well aware of this strength, as his vocals are positioned front and center on each and every track, highlighting his soft, sad croon and the thoughtfully abstract lyrical content that often provides these songs with a level of intensity that is impressively literary at times. 

Starting with the title track, an improved and slightly tweaked version of a song that appeared on our most recent Projection compilation, the album commences on an immediate launch to a lonely, introspective headspace that it proceeds to occupy for its duration.  Most of the tracks here are minimal and sparse in their construction: clean, simple acoustic strumming and Gray's reverb heavy vocal tracks comprise most of the material, with occasional touches of drums, bass, layered backing vocals and additional guitar parts that simply add to the album's dreamy, desolate tone of longing and resigned curiosity.  The minimal arrangements work especially well considering that Gray doesn't seem to need much help in making these rather traditional folk/country songs sound mysterious and heartbreaking, and one gets the sense that anything more would undermine the record's overall feel while simultaneously reducing its charm.

Although the standout tracks are many, a trio of songs with similar titles collectively provides perhaps the best indication of Gray's talents, as well as many of the album's emotional high points.  "You Are the God of Sounds" is certainly the strongest track here, and it is a truly stunning thing to hear on a self released local album.   Starting off with simple acoustic strumming, Gray's vocals come in almost immediately and proceed to steal the show with a beautiful, lost highway country influenced melody that sounds distant and almost ghostly in its sweetness. When the rest of the band comes in and joins Gray at the 1:00 mark, it becomes apparent that the song is something special, revealing Gray's impressive ability to come off as damaged and thoughtful beyond his years.  "You Are the Golden Child" similarly combines quiet, full band accompaniment with a gorgeous, reverb heavy vocal melody for optimal effect, while "You Are the Stars" drops the rhythm and utilizes a drier, clearer sound that presents a textbook argument for "less is more."

Missteps such as the overly long and repetitive "Mr. James" hold things back a bit, and the album itself is not void of scattered, minor flaws-- errant lyrical goofs and overzealous use of vocal effects emerge from time to time, demonstrating that Gray certainly has some room to grow as a songwriter.  But these issues pale in comparison to the record's strengths, and they are easily overlooked as Gray's talent and potential continually reveals itself throughout.  It seems almost impossible to predict success in our fickle and downright confusing regional music scene, but a few listens to J Stop Playing Those Sad Songs will likely leave you confident that on his own, J Gray likely has a shot at turing a lot of heads and creating enough of a stir to attain some kind of record deal in the near future.  For real this time.

(4 of 5 stars)