Aaron Lee Tasjan’s Uncomfortable Truths on Telling Stories to the Wall

From the Me generation onward musicians have increasingly had the unfortunate tendency to focus their energies and talents upon number one. While the first person point of view has long been a staple of songwriting, we see anymore young musicians mistaking the personal for the universal. Sure, Folk and Americana have relied traditionally on narratives and the ‘we’ as opposed to ‘I,’ but even those lines are blurring.

This modern day self-absorption has reached the level of monomania only found in Christian music. Unfortunately, the music industry is only following suit from greater mainstream culture. You turn on that television, especially that soulless entity whose name I dare not mention, y’know the one who hasn’t played music on television in 20 years, and what do you see? Scripted, ‘reality,’ shows focused on celebrities who are famous for mediocre acting or recording careers. Same with literature: every Ivy League Liberal Arts major seems to think the thinly veiled subject in their coming-of-age novel deserves the respect of empathy.

But why?

Who are these people and why should we care about them? Better yet, how do we subvert this perverse trend? The answer, dear reader, is good old fashioned satire. And if you’re sick and tired of the emphasis on personality over musicianship the best place to start is with Aaron Lee Tasjan’s excellent recent release Telling Stories to the Wall.

Although only a meager four songs populate this EP, the recording is a veritable feast for those disenchanted with modern concepts. Lead in blues-country dirge ‘American Tan,’ wastes no time in setting the tone and pace of this little gem. Addressing the race and violence disparity embroiling the armchair activists of this digital age, the song pokes fun at everything that makes American culture mediocre. “Sometimes I’d like to steal the Hollywood sign…” Tasjan sings, “Just change every letter into a dollar sign.” The track is bitingly critical and darkly humorous, and exactly what we need right now.

Next on the queue, ‘Living Proof,’ begins sweetly. A finger picked melody a la young Jackson Browne, eases the listener into a contemplative mood. But the trap springs before the audience can find any comfort and once again we’re assaulted by the realization there is something deeply disturbed with our population. Scott Nolan famously sang, “Doesn’t anybody care about the truth anymore? Maybe that’s what songs are for.” And Tasjan reveals a little nugget of that truth in a rather touching way on ‘Living Proof.’ One wonders if the song is mockery at all, or rather an accurate reflection on the degeneration of the music industry.

Of course Tasjan isn’t alone in this attack on meta-modern musical subject matter. All along there’s been magnificent but minor figures illuminating the sad path leading us down through the bracken and the briar. The Old 97’s, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Canadian Corb Lund, one of the finer young song writers, have all been addressing such issues for years. A whole generation of punkers have abandoned their Chuck T’s for snakeskins without dropping the torch of outsider angst. The most recent notable has been Father John Misty, who’s Fear Fun, was a veritable call to arms against the irrelevancy of our modern condition. Of course, Pa John’s ego got the better of him with the piss-poor I Love You, Honeybear, so after the impending break up album next year maybe he’ll fall back into the fold.

At any rate, Tasjan isn’t alone. What sets him apart perhaps is how clever his wordplay is while cutting down the status quo. Combining the humor of Hayes Carll or Roger Miller with the verbal acrobats of early Okkervil River– all while riffing on young Dylan you begin to wonder how Tasjan wrote all your songs.

The EP finishes out as strongly as it began while including a poem. This Tasjan is a figure to watch, and based on the strength of this EP primer to October’s full length In the Blazes, don’t be surprised to find his name popping up in your Newport and other festival season news feeds as well as the playlists of your avant garde associates. None the less, an east coast tour with No Depression darling Lilly Hiatt will kick off later this summer.  

Perhaps I’m painting it a bit strong. Perhaps it’s been years of struggle against the monolith of American culture that has generated this dark, exciting release. Perhaps Tasjan is only a bitter lunatic, Telling Stories to the Wall. Then again, the truth is never welcome news.