“In The Ever”, the title of Mason Jennings’ new album, is a phrase used by his son to describe the state of being unborn. It’s a fitting introduction to the soft-focus Americana of the album, on which Jennings talks about his spirituality, amongst other things, in the lightest way imaginable. In The Ever comes off like a pastoral East coast ‘Transformer’ on tranquilizers, all typically relaxed in the sunny Brushfire Records style, but with some outstanding songwriting and a keen ear for pop hooks, as heard on the single ‘Fighter Girl’.

We caught up with the man himself to talk about what music, books and films have been keeping him busy lately.. Continue Reading

The sixth album from Hawaiian-born singer-songwriter Mason Jennings is a bit of a treat. In The Ever is varied and well-written, a patchwork of solid, well put together songs which together encompass humour, romance and tragedy.

It opens with “Never Knew Your Name” and “Something About Your Love”, which is possibly unwise as they’re the two most straightforward and predictable songs on offer here. They’re satisfying enough, but they’re not a patch on the much stronger and braver tracks Jennings has for us later on the album - luckily we only have to wait until the third track to hear “I Love You And Buddha Too”, a very funny song about Jennings’ view that all world religions are facets of the same thing. “Oh Jesus I love you” Jennings sings, “and I love Buddha too / Rama Krishna Gurudev / Dao Dei Jing and Muhammad”. All this is captured over a jaunty piano line and ever-building percussion. Continue Reading