Jason Collett

Idols Of Exile

[3/5] Someone really ought to tell Jason Collett that if he’s going to steal, he should at least pick more obscure reference points. The Broken Social Scene guitarist’s second solo album contains riffs from Smashing Pumpkin’s “Disarm” (you can hear everything but the chimes in the opening to “We All Lose One Another”), and on “Almost Summer,” drops hints of the Violent Femmes’ “American Music.” (Seriously, aren’t producers supposed to catch that sort of thing?) It’s a shame, because those two flubs weigh down an otherwise interesting album that’s lush with French horns, guest vocalists (Metric’s Emily Haines on “Hangover Days”) and ultra-depressing alt-country ballads.
(ARTS & CRAFTS) Marc Vera