Hi, I'm Jason the Swamp.  I like to record music in my basement.  Some people have told me they like it, so I continue to do it.  I'm very happy to be in the company of these other wonderful people you've been reading about.  Read on.

I don’t remember how I came to possess Jason the Swamp’s “Mice in the Mouse Organ” EP, but I’m thankful to whoever sent it to me. It’s lo-fi Panda Bear meets the Microphones. If Noah Lennox aka Panda Bear was told to recreate the same vibrant beauty of Person Pitch with an 4-track, a guitar and himself, the final product wouldn’t likely be too far off from Jason the Swamp’s “Red Flannel Soup.” It’s rough around the edges, sure, but shows a ton of promise. If you look at where the Animal Collective guys started and see where they’ve gone, then look at where Jason the Swamp is starting, you can’t help but wonder where he’ll go.

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Like I said the last time I wrote on Jason the Swamp, I said that it called to mind a lot of Animal Collective’s early to mid-career stuff. Now, one year later, I can still say the same thing. The production has gotten a lot better, but Jason the Swamp is still honing his skills in that area. “Nobody Lives Down There” sounds like the product of Grizzly Bear’s Horn of Plenty winding up in the hands of the Animal Collective in 2004. I’ve gotten through most of the album tonight and am really enjoying it.

youaintnopicasso.com

Jason the Swamp has just released his self-titled album on Rack & Ruin Records for free download, as he has done with all of his previous releases. I know the comparison has been drawn before, but these lo-fi twee pop songs are undoubtedly reminiscent of melodic Panda Bear tunes. Regardless, Jason the Swamp proves that all you need to make music is a basement and dream.

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A swamp can't walk, a swamp can't talk, a swamp can't smile, a swamp can't cry and a swamp can't die. All a swamp can do is sit there being wet and dirty. Are we genuinely expected to believe that a marsh named Jason is a regular producer of sweetly bouncing ditties such as those contained on the Mice in the Mouse Organ EP from earlier this year? It's not even as though 'swampish' would be a suitable descriptor of his crisp and clean stylings. 'Running Around' sounds like he travelled back in time to 1983 Texas, visited Daniel Johnston's sister's basement, washed the gunk and grime out from Johnston's tatty old chord organ, figured out how to multi-track vocals and lobbed a giddy kitchen sink drumbeat on top.

Some of the other tracks on the EP are spacious flashes of beauty; brief and twee will-o'-the-wisp instrumental pieces which resemble the pretty little melodies that often crop up in a good movie score and disappear near-instantaneously, meaning that you forget to do the necessary further research to find the responsible artist. Maybe Jason the Swamp is behind each of these sweet moments? If he isn't, he should be.

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