artist spotlight: jonathan coulton

Jonathan Coulton is a geek.

A singer/songwriter based in Manhattan but born in Connecticut, Coulton writes from the heart… the heart that he just removed from a zombie to create a mutant robot-monkey hybrid. After gaining mainstream fame from the song Still Alive appearing in Valve’s smash hit, Portal, he moved from strength to strength. Drawing influences from his experiences as a software designer (Code Monkey) to the thoughts of a self-hating giant squid (I Crush Everything), his lyrics reach out to the future, fantasy, love, celebrity, space and possessed dolls. He tells of stories regarding Pluto’s declassification (I’m Your Moon), the mental instability of a certain A-list name (Tom Cruise Crazy) and an evil genius in love (Skullcrusher Mountain). He weaves and intertwines his music with a believable grace, a wistful melancholy and a puerile giddiness that breaks your heart and makes you laugh at the same time.

Musically, Coulton’s chord sequences are classic; used millions of times before; but this is not generally noticed in the grand scheme of things, as he varies his instrumentation and harmony so much between songs that it doesn’t matter that they are made up of just three chords (Betty and Me, for example). It is not irregular to hear a banjo, a theremin or an accordion complementing the acoustic guitar base of most of his catchy tunes. His vocal is soft and polite, like a friendly cat, but can be rough and vengeful in classics like I’m A Mason Now. The production is very professional, even with a small budget, and considering he released most of these once a week, he must have worked solidly to come out with such pleasant mixes.

I personally draw comparisons between JoCo (his fan nickname) and Jason Mraz, in that both artists create seemingly bittersweet atmospheres in their music, while exploring every genre they can at the same time. Coulton has songs for every occasion, and is still churning out hits after the success of his (arguably) 7 albums, plus a whole load of demos and side projects on top of that. Everyone must own a copy of at least Re: Your Brains for the sing-a-long value, which is emphasised at JoConcerts.

Go, this instant, to jonathancoulton.com and pick up some of his Creative Commons-licenced free music. You will not regret it.

Five word review: geeky singer better than TMBG.*

*okay, i cheated a little
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