Jason McCue - Wasteland (Fluff & Gravy)
Add Date: 08/20/2019
Focus Tracks: 2, 3, 6, 8
FCC Tracks: 7
Formats: Folk, Modern Rock Specialty, NACC Top 200, Triple A
Artist Info: Jason McCue is a lo-fi/indie folk musician who records his music out of his bedroom. Perhaps that explains the line, “what a mess, what a mess”, which reprises throughout his upcoming LP, Wasteland (due August 16 via Fluff and Gravy Records). In this case, the mess consists of intricate melodies in his head, swimming through step-ladder chord progressions, and his wispy vocals, all of which he cleans and organizes into honest songs.
Jason started gaining traction in the Pacific Northwest after placing first in the 2017 Sound Off competition for artists 21 and under. His victory at Sound Off allowed him to perform at Bumbershoot Festival among others, all while finishing his Environmental Studies degree at Seattle University. It caught the ear of Seattle’s KEXP as well, who had him on board for an in-studio performance and presented the release party for his 2018 self-produced album, PANGAEA (Fluff and Gravy Records).
Immediately following his graduation, Jason hopped inside of his Toyota Corolla, armed with nothing but his guitar, a few changes of clothes, a sleeping bag, and a gripped baseball bat named “The Convincer”. He set off for as far as the country’s borders would allow him to go without a passport on his first official Tour. His education flashed before him as he drove into the desolate landscape of the country, which frightened him as he slept on the sides of highways, suffocated him as he drove through ever-engulfing forest fires, and consoled him as he become more capable of conceptualizing what it means to be an adult in America.
On August 16th, Jason will release his album Wasteland, via Portland’s Fluff and Gravy Records. Wasteland is his most dynamic album yet, ranging from soaring full-production rock songs such as “Even Though,” “The Good Sheep” and “Accumulation,” to hushed, intimate melodic songs like “Shadow” and “In the Garden.” Lyrically, Wasteland explores reckoning with the reality of living in America in the 21st century, as well as the expectations and realizations of growing up, set to the imagery of the desolation that Jason saw as he explored this vast country. The album keeps returning to the themes of following “leaders”, pushing problems aside for later, and, of course, the nature of cleaning up a mess.