A quiet mix of folk and indie-pop arranged on piano and guitar with touching, honest lyrics on love, loss and starting over.

12 MP3 Songs
POP: Beatles-pop, FOLK: Folk Pop



Details:
Loves' labour isn't lost for algernon
BY MIKE BREEN


'Orange' You Glad You Listened

for algernon is the new band from singer/songwriter Jason Wells, a strong presence on the local acoustic scene for the past three years. While he doesn't exactly sound like Mope Pop master Elliott Smith, the smoky, down-beat etherealism of orange watches & lost loves has a lot of that similar, mysterious spirit stirring within. Wells understands the use of space in songwriting -- instead of filling out every square inch of sound, he allows the tracks to breathe on their own. Besides the warmly creeping effect of his actual writing, it's what Wells does with the space on orange watches that makes it such a success. Double-tracked, quivering vocals, haunted piano, directing acoustic guitar and some drum machine beats add a depth that belies the album's humble mannerisms and lo-fi production quality.
Highlights include the melodic, buzzingly angular "The Ballad of the Orange Watch," which makes one think Indie Pop collective Elephant 6 might be making a membership drive call soon, and the aching "Jean-Marie" and "Mistaken Affections," which best show off Wells' adroit emotion-into-music ability. Elsewhere, the strings-driven "You'll Be Sorry" has the breezy glide of Scottish Twee-Pop acts like Belle & Sebastian, and "Better This Way" sports Nick Drake's hallowed mystical chime. Wells has a real, unpolished gift as a songwriter, and Orange Watches & Lost Loves is an unassumingly majestic testament.

appeared in citybeat june 11-17 2003