Jonah Yano – portrait of a dog (2023)

Review by Marcy Donelson:
Montreal-based musician Jonah Yano made an impression with a 2020 debut album that not only incorporated elements of jazz, soul, hip-hop, and electronic music into his intimate and dreamy songs but touched on personal issues surrounding a then-recent reconciliation with his long-absent father. Three years later, the follow-up, Portrait of a Dog, leans more heavily into jazz influences, including instrumental explorations and improvisation, while still processing the familial and adding a breakup to the mix. Co-produced by Yano and the also-eclectic BadBadNotGood, the album's 12 songs vary greatly in length, with the under-two-minute "Leslianne" starting things off quietly with shuffling beats and shifting meters and key centers. Its core guitar, piano, upright bass, and drums combo is augmented by melodic cello and lyrical sentiments of better days to come. The song's bittersweet, yearning tone sets the stage for much of Portrait of a Dog, which also includes the more impressionistic and haunting (and unexpectedly languid) "The Speed of Sound!," a cover of Vashti Bunyan's "Glow Worms," and feature spots for such wide-ranging artists as rapper/vocalist Slauson Malone ("In Sun, Out of Sun") and experimental dream pop musician Sea Oleena. The latter appears on "Quietly, Entirely," a song that opens with a ghostly, sustained sound that might be instrument-produced or might be processed crickets or ambient infrastructure. The sound of wind and Sea Oleena's breathy vocals precede the entry of the album's more lucid improvisational ensemble and, eventually, Yano's voice ("Remember that you have to let go"). After a solo Yano's "Song About the Family House," the record ends on an over-six-minute full-on instrumental jazz jam (featuring tenor saxophonist Leland Whitty and written by BadBadNotGood's Chester Hansen), "The Ordinary Is Ordinary Because It Ordinarily Repeats," which doesn't even feature Yano, as if he stayed behind in the family home. — allmusic

Track List:
01 - leslianne
02 - always
03 - haven't haven't
04 - portrait of a dog
05 - call the number
06 - the speed of sound!
07 - in sun, out of sun
08 - so sweet
09 - glow worms
10 - quietly, entirely
11 - song about the family house
12 - the ordinary is ordinary because it ordinarily repeats


Media Report:
Genre: dream-pop, R&B
Origin: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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