Canadian Indie Music

Jonathan Seet

Dark Pop

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
member since: Jan 19, 2000

Introduction

The 2007 release of Jonathan Seet’s 3rd album, Thanks To Science, We’ve Got Love, came following a small wait after his 2003 critic-approved, Arousal Disasters, due to label issues. The songs on Thanks To Science were performed and recorded in Seet's home studio. Some of the tunes feature Seet’s full pop-production while others take a more minimalist approach. The album is a collage of "insidiously catchy" melodramatic pop songs, written either as material specifically for film, TV for Seet's publisher, or simply as good radio fare.

Jonathan Seet’s writing style has been called lush, cinematic, articulate, intelligent and “perfectly-formed pop symphonies.” It’s also been called sensual and poetic. While Arousal Disasters was thematically linked by vice and virtue in love, Thanks To Science is more diverse. It’s still occasionally narrative and conversational but also seems somewhat more personal. Some songs, like “My Wasted Youth” and “Watching You Sleep” are almost confessional. “It’s Not Enough” is a back-beat rocker while “Come On” is a straight-up call-to-arms anthem.

He’s distilled a wry sense of humour, irony and wordplay. “Fashion Tips For The Homeless” sounds possibly un-P.C. but it’s a tongue-in-cheek observation on the state of religion and fanaticism in the modern day world. “Killing All My Friends” isn't a death threat, but a gorgeous (albeit, facetious) love song. In the middle of all this on Thanks To Science, is also a cover version of “I Will Wait For You”, from the 1964 film, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg.

Foraging through a wealth of radio-pop, by turns, reminiscent of Apples in Stereo, The Shins, and Crowded House; think: the quest for the ultimate pop song delivered by an existentialist torch singer; like Hitchhiker's Guide meets Rufus Wainwright.

It's as if someone took your childhood photo album and haphazardly scattered the images on the floor. Imagine Brian Ferry in worn out comfortable shoes. Mix in equal parts Robert Smith of The Cure, and Thom Yorke of Radiohead (alright, older Radiohead), and you're starting to get the picture. Can you imagine Jeff Tweedy in an Armani dinner jacket? Of course you can. You're there.