Jason Falkner: Can You Still Feel?

Their music doesn't sound much alike, but it's fair to compare Jason Falkner to one of last year's most deserving critical darlings, Rufus Wainwright: Both build from a foundation of classic, timeless pop music, and both are decidedly fussy and ambitious about it, creating a unique sound that doesn't feel like it was built out of familiar ingredients. The new Can You Still Feel is the closest Falkner has come to creating a masterpiece, combining the corny showmanship of his former band Jellyfish, the elegant Baroque pop of his under-appreciated work in The Grays, and the ambitious sprawl of his marvelous 1996 debut, Jason Falkner Presents Author Unknown. Immediately appealing but revealing more with each successive exposure, Can You Still Feel is perhaps best represented by "Revelation," which drifts and weaves through an ambling mid-tempo ballad that nonetheless delivers about five different catchy melodies. Never settling for just a single bald-faced pop hook, Falkner piles on effects and quirks, making "My Lucky Day," with its goofy Rentals synth, more than just an awesome bit of pop overload. That song is arguably the album's shining moment of brilliance, but there are plenty more that come close, from the ham-fisted pop-rock anthem "Author Unknown" to the unabashedly earnest ballad "See You Again." Falkner has always been a considerable talent, but Can You Still Feel finds him living up to his promise.