Craft Shop Exclusive. Available on 180g black vinyl, with beautiful matte-coated jacket and inner sleeve.
Jason Collett has worn many hats over a story-filled career now spanning twenty years. Springing from Broken Social Scene, the indie folk troubadour has captured a view of his surroundings with a worldly, neighbourly tone entirely his own. This 13-track Best Of is a collection of his songs that crystallize moments from an ever-changing era, vital threads that connect us to our musical city and family.
The career-spanning collection is spearheaded by the singer-songwriter’s first new recording since 2016’s Song And Dance Man. “Crab Walking Home In The Rain” was arranged and produced by beloved indie folk artist Andy Shauf (his first production for another artist) and, according to Collett, is “a reflection on the changes I’ve seen my neighbourhood, in Toronto’s west end, go through over the years.” Since the release of his official solo debut, 2003’s Motor Motel Love Songs, Collett has in honeyed tones and measured style soundtracked a hazy day-drive by the alt-countryside.
Jason Collett appears every few years with a new songbook of sharp-witted musical commentary, each with a unique sonic tilt. Idols Of Exile, released in 2006, was the first album to fully confirm his potency as a storyteller, and cemented Collett’s penchant for collaboration, both as a cohesive band leader and a cunning curator. His albums have featured contributions from luminaries of the indie world such as Bahamas, Feist, as well as members of Stars, The Stills, Zeus and more. From the energetic guitar-led Here’s To Being Here (2008), to the roots-inflected Rat A Tat Tat (2010), Collett has woven each release with vital chronicles of Canadiana. From the political injection of Reckon (2012) to the hip-swaying edge of Song And Dance Man (2016), Collett has evolved without hardly aging, a testament to the power of simplicity and writing in reverence to the word, and the world.
A member of the Arts & Crafts label from start to present, Jason Collett’s Best Of is a document of a true artist, endemic to our creative community.