Searching for a timeless sound

Academy Award winner Bret McKenzie released his solo-project Songs Without Jokes through Sub Pop Records this August. This New Zealand musician has credits on a plethora of projects, but his most famous work was writing music for the 2011 movie The Muppets for which he received the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Songwriting is a strong suit of McKenzie’s and his recent album is indicative of this.

His first track “This World” has a happy-go-lucky tune, however, the lyrics are anything but joyous. He sings “the planet is bleeding,” and that “the air is filthy, they don’t recommend breathing.” A very grim outlook on the state of the world, but he appropriately critiques “we’re all to blame for the state that we’re in.” The sentiment and the juxtaposing instrumentation behind the track gives the listener the idea that this will be perhaps a comedic album with some profound social commentary (think Father John Misty). However, this is not the case, as McKenzie backtracks from talking about the state of the world and instead writes about very general ‘sad’ experiences.

The following track is a defeated and dejected narrative describing a man whose partner is leaving him. The instrumentation and vocal style feels reminiscent of Elton John. Despite the sad story portrayed in the song, the upbeat melody seems somewhat uplifting. The lyricism in the track is very solid, and at the end the lyrics repeat ad infinitum into silence, classic ‘70s style. Because of this, “If You Wanna Go” is one of the strongest tracks on the record.

“Here for You” is a low-tempo and smooth ballad. At first glance the track is a pretty basic promise of staying with your partner no matter what. However, there are subtle nods towards mental illness, like when McKenzie sings “someone’s haunting you within / no matter what they do / baby, I’m here for you.” The lyrics “when the world starts shaking / and you’re losing your ground” further indicate some sort of mental instability. In an age where mental illness is increasingly prevalent, this possible connection could add a layer of depth to an otherwise straightforward song.

The middle of the record is where McKenzie lags, unfortunately. What he lacks in lyrical creativity and conceptuality, he makes up for with unique and pleasant production. “That’s L.A.” features a great melody and appropriate instrumentation that complements the sound of the album. In the middle of the track, there is a wonderful keyboard solo that bends and sounds almost like a guitar. However, vague references to Los Angeles kill the potential of the track. There have been hundreds of songs written about L.A. in every genre imaginable, so at this point it feels overdone.

The album continues with its ‘doom and gloom’ material, with lyrics that usually wind up on the generic end of the spectrum. Tracks like “Up in Smoke” and “Carry On” are both sonically beautiful, but not lyrically profound enough to stand out. Since they both have the same melancholic energy to them, it feels redundant putting them next together on the album.

At certain points during the album, like the piano intro in “A Little Tune” can best be described as golden. The overall structure and concept of the album feels somewhat timeless, a potential classic. Quite a few tracks on the record feel as though they could have been written upwards of forty years ago. McKenzie is undoubtedly a talented musician and songwriter, but there are aspects of the album that keep it from reaching that ‘timeless’ status—the biggest one would be how generic and ‘safe’ the themes of the tracks are. Despite the glamorous production, there are no tracks that ‘pack-a-punch’ or leave a mark on the listener in the way other classic albums do.

Nonetheless, Songs Without Jokes is a great album by an impressive artist. It’s clear that McKenzie has a tight grasp on the production side of the record, and with a stronger and clearer concept, the album certainly would have felt like an instant classic. This project is definitely worth a listen, or two, or three. McKenzie is filled with potential, and hopefully his next solo project is worth the wait.