Jason Collett: Here’s To Being Here

In 2005, singer-songwriter Jason Collett temporarily

stepped away from the Canadian super-collective Broken Social Scene to

concentrate on writing and recording his own songs. He still occasionally

collaborates with his erstwhile bandmates—BSS/Apostle Of Hustle guitarist

Andrew Whiteman guests on Here's To Being Here, Collett's fifth solo

disc—but his new work is grittier, sparser, and more Mississippi-inspired

than anything BSS ever did. Collett occasionally succumbs to ye olde Bob

Dylan/Woody Guthrie fetish, delivering quips with a syntax that can feel

awkwardly familiar. But Here's To Being Here is the best kind of

homage, a folk-gospel-blues mash-up that sounds like it could be The Velvet

Underground's critically adored long-lost country record, if such a thing

existed.