Review: Aaron Lee Tasjan – “Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!” (2021) 

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I`m sure that if you read a blurb saying this artist has a genre-bending new album, most people would think weird, odd, and run a mile. But for me that`s the sort of thing that seems to draw me in and American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer Aaron Lee Tasjan is all that and more. He has a new album “Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!”, his fourth out this month. According to his press release Tasjan has been on a shapeshifting musical journey his whole life. From his glam-rock roots, when Jimmy Iovine told him “guys in make-up don’t sell records” and when Lady Gaga would open for his band in NYC, to his legend-hopping guitar sideman days with bands such as the New York Dolls, Drivin N Cryin, The Spin Doctors and Semi Precious Weapons.

The album kicks off with `Sunday Women` and it’s a wonderful all-encompassing slice of pop. I loved the lyrics that included the line “Sunday women are hard to find, Sunday women don`t break hearts like mine, and when you`re with them the stars align” It had a real sort of Beatles tinge about it, a song in praise of finding the girl of your dreams. There`s more amusing lyrics with `Computer of Love` the line “my little avatar, how men have known who you really are, digital clouds the guiding stars, on the computer of love” was exquisite. The track references disconnection and the ways social media and our “phones put an emotional barrier between all of us” It has a delightful Traveling Wilburys vibe about it.

`Up All Night` is a number that Jeff Lynne would have been proud to have written. It relates to some of the anxieties the singer has and hints at his sexuality. Aaron has said that the composition “is half party anthem, half cautionary tale,” and “It’s inspired by the times I’ve wondered if I need to get help with my drinking and what it meant that I was worrying about things in the first place?” it has a charming Electric Light Orchestra ambiance. We have a more folky number with `Another Lonely Day` with some sweetly shared acoustic guitar riffs, rhythmic drumbeat, and dreamy vocals. A haunting koan full of profundity and neurosis the singer reveals.

`Don`t Overthink It` is another, possibly folky offering, that has a rhythmic drum and bass line with an eerie synth effect snaking around at times, but it really surges to life at the chorus. Again, we have sublime lyrics with “Don`t fall to pieces, see you in hell before it freezes, save me a seat right next to Jesus” and delivered in a nigh on dead pan style. I felt that `Cartoon Music` was a kind of throwaway song that seemed to allude to a generation that are weary and bored with life, fixated on the mundane.

`Feminine Walk` is a trippy affair with some wonderfully tongue in cheek lyrics or maybe not. An all-encompassing tale of the artists journey from New York to Nashville and his own ladylike or girlish gait. Wonderful stuff. There is a slightly overblown texture about `Dada Bois` which does have a Brian Wilson “Pet Sounds” era feel about it. A song about confusion possibly which would fit with the odd title. Dada being an art movement formed during the First World War in Zurich in negative reaction to the horrors and folly of the war. The art, poetry and performance produced by dada artists is often satirical and nonsensical in nature. My schoolboy French would translate Bois to wood. So, a wooden art movement? as Brian Wilson would say “God only knows”

It back to that Beatles meets Electric Light Orchestra sound with the amiable `Now You Know`. A submission that has a whimsical fantasy appeal that will leave you with a warm glow inside. An introspective narrative of self-reflection. How many tracks could get away with an opening line of “The world outside my window, looks like Nintendo but i`m not playing games anymore” but `Not That Bad` does just that. A misty-eyed acoustic reflection on reconciling that if you develop a positive outlook, your life may well reflect this attitude. There are some angelic harmonies at times during this piece.

The album closes with the pleasingly meandering `Got What I Wanted` another eclectic life affirming slice of quirky pop to finish off on.

The album is dedicated to the alternative kids who also felt “other” growing up. As it sort of says on the cover “Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!” is a masterclass in interstellar pop, vintage glam, 90s Anglophilia and psychedelic rock & roll. It`s a superb collection of offbeat, idiosyncratic, unconventional but at times dream like observations that paint some wonderfully enjoyable images. A wonderfully uplifting mantra to inspire and energise us through these dark times.

Rating 9 /10

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