by Nat Lyon
Beautifully Broken is music for those dark nights when you really just want to be alone. You want to crawl into a bubble and withdraw for a while. Maybe a little longer. You’re in luck- Jon Autry is a genius bubble maker. And he has made the perfect soundtrack for your solitude.
The atmospherics and sonics of Beautifully Broken carry this collection of twelve very dark songs. This is not the typical Brooklyn-hipster shoegaze/dreamgaze sap. Jon Autry is a gifted songwriter, musician, and engineer. The lyrics are uncomplicated, yet daunting in their honesty, and his music has a vibe that might not sound unfamiliar, but it will leave the impression that you have just listened to something new. He has all of the tools needed to create an intense soundscape within each song and totally delivers on Beautifully Broken, his eighth solo release.
The opener, 'Distance', is only 59-seconds long, but sets the stage for the rest of the album: “All the plans we made, and the tax I paid, only to love you from a distance.” And from this start Autry skilfully and quite artfully shows us how much more effective a few simple words can be when they’re wrapped in an intense arrangement that starts with a sparse guitar and bass progression and quickly builds to something else within less than a minute. From the opener, it feels like we’re walking territory mapped by Elliott Smith.
'Distance' segues directly into 'I Got Lost', and Autry clearly grabs control of the narrative and the mixing console. The soft vocals are accompanied by a massive beat and keen guitar work. The lyrical theme remains dark, despite the not-quite-downtempo beat of a brooding singer/songwriter. Simple lines like: “I got lost, forgot this war inside my head. It turned me on to turn you out instead,” are given extra power through the percussion, vocal effects, and well placed guitar lines.
While most of the lyrical content on Beautifully Broken is end-of-relationship driven, the album does not contain one hackneyed sentiment or slogan. This is not really a sad album. It’s definitely not a happy-jam album. It’s not political. It is a very dark album and a very brave album. There are no winners or losers in the characters that pace anxiously on Beautifully Broken. It’s just people trying to figure shit out.
Some. Times. It. Just. Does. Not. Work. Out.
And that’s ok. If you need pointers, this album will provide the necessary therapy.
Beautifully Broken could have very easily turned out to be a beautiful downer. Fortunately, Jon Autry is too smart for that. His arrangements and musical performance are both top notch and challenging. Autry performed all of the instruments, with the exception of the drums on 'Don’t Mean Anything', which were played by Rob Guernsey. It is in the performance and engineering that we hear references to Bradford Cox, Emperor X, Elliott Smith, John Vanderslice, Stephen Steinbrink. All singer/songwriters who treat engineering as an instrument. The sounds are very much an important part of each story on Beautifully Broken. Some people might appreciate the album for it’s emotional depth and raw honesty, but if any of the above reference points appeal to you- you will love how beautifully broken the sonics on this album are. Get it?
'Not Receiving' lays down a true carpet of fuzzed guitar- it’s always there- underfoot, a hollow snare, and keyboards riding over the top. 'Not Receiving' is an almost-upbeat song and despite the downer content, this plays like a well structured pop song. That’s a hell of a trick. The theme is simple: You are not getting me, and yet- you’re still around. Period. The accompanying music is a wall of sound, distressed vocals, and a mountain of tension. Autry’s compositions are not repetitive; in fact they are quite the opposite, with many songs shifting in structure so that by the end you think you’re listening to a completely different song. I had to keep checking the playlist to make sure I was tracking the album properly, only to find the “new” song was just a part of the one I was already listening to. Beautiful Broken is full of clever moves like that, and it demonstrates Autry’s skill and craft as a composer. He’s not in an emotional rut and he’s certainly not in a musical rut either.
Mixing analog and digital gear, Jon Autry brings depth and clarity to his constructed soundscapes. He can go quietly with just an acoustic guitar, a synth, and a shaker, like he does on 'What’s Left', which slowly bleeds into the ambient piece 'slipping away / off again / voluntary' that uses ambient and manipulated drone tones. But he also knows how to go loud without over-baking it, like on 'I Know'.
The heavy numbers on Beautifully Broken are memorable because their artful and alt- structured arrangements. This is the kind of sloppy hi-fi sound reminiscent, yet not entirely similar to, Emperor X and John Vanderslice. 'Don’t Mean Anything' is anchored by a slow, but forceful beat, a wonderfully distressed electric guitar, a veil of vocals, and keyboards. There are different shades of darkness on the album, and the genius separation of the instruments and vocals show us just one part of the Jon Autry musical spectrum. In a similar manner, 'Things About You', has a hook in the line, “I have you figured out,” with percussion coming at exactly the right moment in each measure to drive the message home. There is a lot of acoustic (and emotional) space on 'Things About You', and the low-volume stereo guitar is perfect for headphones and puts you into that disconnected bubble-space.
When 'Things About You' abruptly shifts into 'No Future', the hairs on the back of your neck stand up a little bit. The quiet musical tension seems low key, but builds over the recurring theme of “There’s no future in this…” The delivery is not as a line of despair, but more of a statement of fact. It’s a seemingly simple concept. But the song is broken into two distinct parts, with the second part coming down harder: “You taught me love isn’t real- just chemicals tearing through our brains. You were right.” One of my first reactions to 'No Future' was, “It would be so cool to go back in time and hear Joy Division do a cover of this song.” If that were possible, yeah- it would be pretty awesome. But Jon Autry already nailed it.
The ordering of the twelve songs on Beautifully Broken is a thoughtful progression across the album. If it had not been, this would have been a very different album. Within the mix, Autry inserted three short songs and one ambient piece that either work as bridges between songs, or a jolt. The opener, 'Distance' is only 59-seconds long. It’s a full song with stereophonics and content that make it stand well on its own. 'Can You Feel This' puts an old organ into the mix, with a broken ambient feel, until the vocals kick in. This 61-second song is the perfect setup for the following 'Don’t Mean Anything'. 'Should Not Should' drops in a wall of synths accompanied by lyrics about the desire (or) dread in losing some one- which is a lot to pack into 49-seconds. Short form writing is a is a lot harder than it looks and the short pieces on Beautifully Broken are excellent examples. Some times you don’t need three minutes to say something that can be said in one. Sort of like relationships.
While Beautifully Broken might be considered a quiet album, Jon Autry makes up for it in both the emotional and musical intensity of his writing and performance. Perhaps the best example is the closer, 'Olive Branch'. The reverb drenched, almost spoken word, delivery of the lyrics are accompanied by an acoustic guitar, and keyboards. Over the previous eleven tracks we’ve heard Autry weave but never wobble in his conviction that some times shit just doesn’t work out and when you get to the final track, you’re looking for resolution, which he very kindly delivers: “the results are already in, conclusions have been drawn.”
There’s a moral in this story and a lesson for beginners: If you break up and get back together, things will never be the same. So just hold on to your olive branch apology, because you will need it again some day. Hopefully, with some one else. The lines on 'Olive Branch' are not delivered with a dagger- but with direct honesty.
No tricks. No bullshit. No apologies. Great album.
