Jack Conte gets emotional in new album

Remarkably, he plays all of the instruments.

By Rachel Post

Published Oct. 13, 2008

When Jack Conte's EP Sleep in Color was released on iTunes, he posted a blog on his MySpace page, complete with a picture of himself sitting in a frozen yogurt shop with a wide grin on his face, displaying his dedication to connecting with his fans.

Conte gained some recognition when his creative music video "Yeah Yeah Yeah" was featured on YouTube, which has yielded more than 450,000 hits to date. The recent release of his EP Sleep In Color, released Sept. 25, is a welcome addition to his collection of work. The 15-minute, five-song EP, featuring three previously unreleased songs, is a sometimes haunting, sometimes optimistic and sometimes passionate compilation.

Most notable about Conte is that he records his music without help from anyone else. His use of an accordion, xylophone, keyboard, his acoustic guitar, as well as other instruments, is distinctively intriguing.

The first track on the EP, "Hollywood Endings," is Conte's desperate hope for "shores of hope/Where love flows and the ocean floats," but in the end it's a bitter realization that "pretty Hollywood Endings" may just be stories and dreams.

The second track on the EP, "Like a Match," begins with evocative lyrics: "I took my head for its midnight walk/No, no, I hadn't been outside in days/I kept the leash by my side, but it wasn't quite tight, and I lost it."

The song begins with a lazy progression both lyrically and musically, but it quickly builds up into a fast-paced song, and by the end Conte is literally screaming.

Next is "The Greatest Hoax," which begins with Conte's most haunting lyrics yet: "Lately I'm having dreams of blood." But don't let that scare you - the song is Conte's acknowledgment that every day is brand new rather than part of a continuous progression of days. Conte's screaming at the end of the song, yet again, is a bit disturbing, but reinforces the song's tone.

"Now That's Sacred" is a stark change from the remainder of the EP. The song is a cry to a partner Conte misses, but at the same time he denies that it's affecting him. Lyrics like, "When you're gone, I'm fine, my heart won't unfold cuz I'm fine," take on a more sincere tone when added to, "When we surrender to worms, I hope you'll know I missed you well." Although the song becomes intense and overwhelming near the end, it still maintains a refreshing solemn tone throughout.

Last on the EP is "Carousel Waltz," which really does provoke the image of a carousel thanks to Conte's use of the accordion and the keyboard. The song is about the frustration of an all-consuming job. "You can go anywhere while you sleep in your bed/But when you wake up shake it all from your head..." and "are you sick of living life two days a week?"

It's clear that Conte is taking on a more frightening approach to his music. The three most haunting songs, "Like a Match," "The Greatest Hoax" and "Carousel Waltz" are all new songs, whereas "Hollywood Endings" and "Now That's Sacred" have been featured on his MySpace page well before the release of Sleep in Color.

One element that doesn't work in Conte's favor is the lack of choruses in many of his songs. "Like a Match," "Now That's Sacred" and "Carousel Waltz" all don't have choruses, and while the absence of choruses doesn't detract from the intensity of the songs, it does prevent the songs from being catchy. Although fans might have a hard time latching onto his songs, his revolutionary methods and their byproducts are truly worth paying attention to.