Arner, Jay

Arner, Jay

Jay Ii

Mint

Received a 7.0 rating from Pitchfork. Jay Arner’s Jay II is music for outsiders who might not want to be insiders. Sophisticated synth-pop for sensitive types, existential glam rock for the unsettled—these songs are the soundtrack to fitting in, finding your place in the world of suffering, and finally coming to terms with yourself. “Following my first album I toured extensively for two years, going to a lot of places I’ve never been,” Arner explains. “I love touring but on another level I viscerally felt how huge and indifferent the world is. I visited the Grand Canyon twice. It’s an amazing monument to deep time. What am I? I’m a human musician.” In his quest for self-discovery, Arner channels inspirations ranging from the cheeky charm of Sparks to the regal slink of Roxy Music; the soaring hooks of Fleetwood Mac to the propulsive drive of La Dusseldorf. Jay II synthesizes glam, prog and electronic funk into a shimmering 2016 pastiche. However, it goes beyond studied homage into the realm of relatable as only pure pop for now people can. Like on the first album, Arner plays most instruments alongside Jessica Delisle, his partner in Energy Slime. Tone-zoned guitars, sci-fi synths and muscular drum fills buff up the understated arrangements like a six-pack revealed under a sweater vest. Recorded and mixed in the span of a month with minimal fuss, these nine songs sound both airtight and breezy. “People in cool bands, playing sweet shows, smoking outside on the street.” These...

Arner, Jay

T.S.A.T.S.

Mint

Arner, Jay

Jay Arner

Mint

For years, Vancouver multi-instrumentalist Jay Arner has teamed up with others to translate the sounds in his head. He’s fronted an indie rock band, played synthesizers and samplers in a pop duo, manned the drums for a piano-punk songwriter, and held down the bass in a eight-member collective. Along the way, he’s also become a sought-after producer and remix artist, working out of Vancouver’s legendary Hive Studios and recording acts like Mount Eerie, Apollo Ghosts, Rose Melberg, No Gold and many more. Now, finally, he is going it alone. Every sound on his eponymous debut album was self-recorded by Arner in his 72-square-foot practice space using a precariously perched desktop computer and his home recording gear. The sum of his many talents, these ten songs sizzle with DIY energy and encompass the scope of the songwriter’s diverse résumé. Opener “Midnight on South Granville” sets a dark tone with its coldly mechanical intro before flourishing into a lush post-punk synthscape that reflects Arner’s love of analog electronics. Elsewhere, the bass-heavy pulse of “Broken Glass (In the Hall of Shattered Mirrors)” draws on ’70s pseudo-funk, while “Wildest One” is an abrasive surge of distortion and “Don’t Remind Me” is a soaring pop anthem that recalls classic Murderrecords songcraft. The lyrics are filled with self-doubt and wry cynicism, but don’t expect confessional heartbreak—these timeless melodies and intricately wrought arrangements are filled with noisy pop sweetness, and there’s not an acoustic guitar to be found. Given that Arner wrote, performed, recorded and mixed every...