Jason Bajada
Gig Seeker Pro

Jason Bajada

Montréal, Quebec, Canada | MAJOR

Montréal, Quebec, Canada | MAJOR
Band Folk Pop

Calendar

Music

Press


"Jason Bajada Readies Loveshit"

Montreal singer/songwriter Jason Bajada will release his third album, Loveshit, on Feb. 10 through MapleMusic.

Bajada recorded the album with production duo Les Troublemakers at their Montreal studio. It chronicles a difficult break-up Bajada went through and includes a cover of Wolf Parade's "You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's Son." You can hear first single "Ten Days In Miami" and two other songs from Loveshit on Bajada's MySpace page.

"This really does feel like a first record because the other ones were never quite what I was looking for," Bajada says. "With this one, we nailed it. I'm happy with what comes out of the speakers now."

Bajada released his Puer Dolor debut album in 2004 and followed it with 2006's Up Go The Arms. He recently toured with Martha Wainwright.

You can see Bajada here:

Jan. 17 Quebec City, QC @ L'Imperial De Quebec w/Joseph Arthur
Jan. 24 Laval, QC @ Maison Des Arts De Laval w/Alfa Rococo
Feb. 27 Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Juste Pour Rire w/David Martel
April 11 Quebec City, QC @ Le Cercle w/Dany Placard

Here are the songs on Loveshit:

"Cut, Watch, Leave"
"Ten Days In Miami"
"Home's Still Your Bones"
"Hard Not To Quit"
"Tired Of Talking"
"Sad Song About You #2"
"Evolution Kind"
"Mulholland Drive"
"Loveshit"
"You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's Son" - Chart Attack. 01/16/09 by Kate Harper


"Jason Bajada @ Supermarket NXNE 2008"

Quieter acts always struggle at the annual NXNE schmoozathon. At a venue that's also a restaurant filled with clattering dishes, sizzling appetizers and talkative diners, Jason
Bajada hardly had a chance. Yet in spite of the background din and
an irritating buzz in the speakers, Bajada showed great concentration
and poise as he worked through his set of soft, understated love
songs.

Wishing the diners at the back a good meal, Bajada strummed into another relaxed coffee shop ballad. His mellow voice and dry wit were the keys to his victory in hostile territory. All his songs had a story, he said, but they're all about the same girl. They always are.

Like his sense of humour, Bajada's songs had a subtle confidence to them. His deft strumming patterns could summon empathy from the scattered, swaying Supermarket audience the way a stone-faced straightman can coax laughs from a
rowdy vaudeville hall. Is it weird to call somebody the Jack Benny of acoustic folk?

The soft-spoken wizard cast a spell on the room. Fidgeting fingers transmogrified into flickering
candles. Yapping mouths became open ears. Tired eyes turned into to teary ones. Even with the odds stacked against him, Bajada managed to draw the room's attention by carrying on like there was no other choice. - Chartatck


"Martha la Magnifique"

Dec. 17, 2008

(....)

Jason Bajada

En ouverture, le Montréalais Jason Bajada a ravi le public du Palais Montcalm avec sa voix caressante et sa pop introspective. Celui qui, quelques heures avant ce passage chez nous, disait entretenir une «relation d'amour avec la ville de Québec» dans son blogue, a reçu un accueil à la hauteur de ce sentiment.

Ceux qui n'en auraient pas eu assez peuvent se rassurer : Jason Bajada sera de retour chez nous aussi tôt que le 17 janvier, alors qu'il ouvrira pour Joseph Arthur à l'Impérial. Son troisième album, Loveshit, lui, sera en magasin le 10 février. - Le Soleil (Quebec City)(in French)


"The Quiet Cool"

The quiet cool.

Jason Bajada plays the Cabaret again tonight with music that talks softly, treads lightly and stays invisible to all but those who want to see it.

Jason Bajada's way with a detailed lyric and his patience with a fragile melody are impressive. Cabaret is a good gig for out-of-towners, let alone for locals. Tonight, Jason Bajada will own the venue for the third time in a year. How can the Montreal singer and his musicians get away with it?

Easy: "We're a prefabricated pop band," Bajada said last week, tongue so far in cheek that it was a wonder he could talk.

Bajada's slowly unfurling balladry is hardly the stuff of Machiavellian corporate pop. It's music that talks softly, treads lightly and stays invisible to all but those who want to see it. It's music that travels through word of mouth, and Bajada's continued success with little in the way of publicity says much about his grassroots following.

"The audience has been multiplying every time," he said. "Some people will get a group of friends and make it a night out. The show turns into an evening in the living room, like everyone's been invited to my house and we're having a jam session around the fire."

That intimacy was showcased in an appearance at last week's MIMI gala. While most of his peers at the local-music awards opted to play their heavier material, Bajada selected Gutterwaltz - a brooding, Leonard Cohen- esque track from last year's debut, Puer Dolor. It was a gutsy choice for such a celebratory event and ended up being one of the evening's highlights.

Bajada's way with a detailed lyric and his patience with a fragile melody are impressive; more impressive is how fully formed his gifts are. There are moments on Puer Dolor when he could be the cousin of highly touted bohemian renaissance-man Joseph Arthur. Before he got to this point, however, Bajada honed his craft under the radar as singer for Ocean Hope.

"We didn't really market (our album); it was kind of homemade. With this record (Puer Dolor), I think I was ready to present it to people and to the media. ... Ocean Hope was a nice learning experience, but thank God we didn't invite the media out to the shows, because we were complete s--t." Bajada described Ocean Hope as a solo project disguised as a band, and his current career as a band disguised as a solo project. "When I pulled the plug on Ocean Hope ... I thought, 'OK, I'm going to go under my own name.' Two weeks later I met (drummer and collaborator) Fred Bouchard, but I didn't want to change the name again, so Fred's become Jason Bajada as well."

Bajada's stripped-down concerts merited Live at Cabaret Music Hall, released simultaneously with Puer Dolor. "The songs probably stick out a little more live than on the (studio) recording," Bajada said, which explains his desire to let the silence between the notes speak without interruption.

"I've learned certain tricks from shows I've seen to get the audience to shut up," Bajada said with a laugh. "I remember seeing Ben Harper in '99 at Metropolis; that was probably the first time I'd seen the power of playing your instrument more quietly so people realize they're talking louder than the actual performance. My pager went off and the whole of Metropolis could hear it. "There are certain dynamics to the show that help. We start the show in a way that people think, 'Whoops - we're going to have to quiet down now.' Actually, a lot of fans will turn around and shush people, which is always appreciated."

Jason Bajada performs tonight at 9 at Cabaret, 2111 St. Laurent Blvd., with Jim Bryson. Tickets cost $12, $15 at the door. Call (514) 845-2014. - The Gazette


"Jason Bajada - Classic Indie Pop!"

If you come from a town with an art college and at least a couple of open-mic night venues you’ve probably seen someone like Jason Bajada perform. Sensitive and slightly rumpled; early to mid-20s; passionate about his record collection; playing sets that blend originals with obscure indie covers, British folk and the occasional ironic ABBA song. All of this may be true of Jason Bajada as well, but on his debut album he still manages to distinguish himself. For one thing his songs are full of shifty little reminders of classic indie pop rather than out-and-out crib notes. They also serve as a reminder that songs can be moody and emotional without having to shout or wield tear-soaked handkerchiefs. The maturity of songwriting and understated but effective arrangements, featuring spare percussion, effects and cello, has more in common with old-timers like Elvis Costello and Go-Betweens than any current alterna-angst. The simultaneously released Live at Cabaret Music Hall showcases Bajada as an easy, engaging performer. The songs are slightly breathier and extended musically to let his band roam a little, but they neither add to nor subtract anything tonally from the studio versions. - Exclaim Magazine!


"Band of the Day: Jason Bajada"

Someone -- anyone! -- please get Jason Bajada a drink. The Montreal singer/songwriter must have been seriously messed-up while writing the songs found on Loveshit, his third album. Bajada often comes across as the depressed lovechild of John Darnielle and Mark Oliver Everett. "I'm looking for my soul," he sings on Home's Still Your Bones. And on Sad Song About You #2: "I miss making you smile." Maybe it's not a drink he needs, but a hug. That said, it's funny how the saddest songs are often the most beautiful; Bajada writes sublime pop songs. Tired of Talking is a little gem; Hard Not To Quit sounds like One Chord to Another-era Sloan; Mulholland Drive just might just be a lost Cure b-side. The only misstep is the cover of Wolf Parade's You Are A Runner (And I Am My Father's Son). Valentine's Day is fast approaching; I suggest that if you don't have a date -- maybe even if you do -- you grab a bottle of red wine, lock the door, and put Loveshit on repeat.

Recommended track: Home's Still Your Bones, which reminds me of the Jason Collett/Emily Haines duet Hangover Days. - The National Post


Discography

-NEW ALBUM titled "Loveshit" was released on February 10, 2009: Album licensed to Maple Music Recordings in Canada.
-Up Go The Arms (2006)
-Puer Dolor (2003)
-Live at Cabaret Music-Hall (2003)

Photos

Bio

After two independent albums, Puer Dolor (2004) and Up Go The Arms (2006), Montreal singer-songwriter Jason Bajada has joined MapleMusic Recordings for the release of his third album Loveshit. Though the first two albums earned him accolades as one of Montreal’s best songwriters, audiences will be privy to Bajada’s best work yet with the release of Loveshit in February 2009. “This really does feel like a first record because the other ones were never quite what I was looking for. With this one we nailed it,” says Bajada.

A heartfelt portrait of a rollercoaster relationship and its demise, the album showcases Bajada’s knack for dealing in dark subject matter, while delivering catchy pop melodies. (Indeed, music blog More Nights says of his live show: “full of sad songs, but somehow always manages to put a smile of my face.”) “Ten Days in Miami,” the first single, and first song written for the album, came into being during a particularly desperate time – “I was sitting at my coffee table writing and crying,” Bajada says – but has a breezy feel that contrasts with lyrics like “I don’t blink when I look at you / ‘Cause I can’t let you go.” Bajada calls his writing process “the chase for the perfect pop song,” and it’s a hunt that takes him from the upbeat bounce of “Hard Not To Quit” to the stripped-down melancholy of “Sad Song About You #2” and bittersweet boy-girl harmonies on “Home’s Still Your Bones.”

Though writing for Loveshit took place in various cities, including Los Angeles and Halifax, it’s very much intertwined with Montreal, featuring production by Les Troublemakers and a cover of “You Are A Runner (And I Am My Father’s Son)” by Wolf Parade. Bajada headed out on tour as the opener for Montreal songstress Martha Wainwright in December 2008. The city also influenced his writing – “When you have those kinds of quality musicians in your backyard, there’s a challenge there. It’s keeps you on your toes.” Bajada has risen to the challenge and then some with Loveshit, a collection of ten honest and infectious songs that spin heartbreak into musical bliss. Bajada also recently opened for Joseph Arthur in Montreal and Quebec city.