Music
Press
Here you have a band out of Atlanta that carries a name similar to that of everyones favorite Miami Vice character and Melanie Griffiths ex-husband and which may be confusing to repeat in conversation. Either way, its clever to say the least. Their six-song EP, Inverness Way, dons a very chill sound with vocals that emulate the voice you might hear right before youre put under hypnosis. It exhibits a kind of monotonous tone throughout that works well with the light and twangy guitars in the background. With its pronounced two-step beat, PBR may have listeners generating a sudden urge to get up and slow dance with whoever happens to be around at the time.
In some instances, Jondonson uses vocal distortion to give the feeling that singer Lee Wiggins fell into a coffee cup and started crooning from the bottom. This album has that hippie music feel to it that fans of such artists like the Band would enjoy immensely. There is a significant emphasis on the actual music rather than the vocals and lyrics that fellow musicians and connoisseurs can appreciate more than the average Joe who worships radio-friendly tunes.
Even though there are only six songs by which to judge the band, Inverness Way a good show of originality that could reach out to listeners and might easily set the mood for a laid-back evening with friends, whether they all enjoy the same genre of music or not. This EP is a good start for Jondonson and gives the impression that the band can only grow and get better from here. (Self-released
-Leah Baker - Southeast Performer
The miniscule stage that occupies the Atlanta Room at Smith's Olde Bar is perfect for the singer-songwriters that surrounded Atlanta band Jondonson on Friday night, but it seemed a little tight for a quartet. It looked like a three-dimensional puzzle as the band set up. In fact, guitarist Mike Voulgaris wound up playing the entire set from the floor of the space, joking about plopping down on one of the couches that stood front and center.
As for the band's set, it was just what you would have expected listening to the tracks on their MySpace page. It was Pavement with a twang. They had the ramshackle tunefulness, the repetitive low-fi groove, catchy melodies that led to unexpected places and, most praiseworthy, an unpretentiously arty charm.
Even better, the band had a disarming sense of humor about their situation. "We have J.C. Penney guitars," announced drummer and vocalist Lee Wiggins, as guitarist Matt White tuned up. "We never mastered the art of banter, so you'll just have to sit awkwardly while we do this."
One of the band's best traits is brevity. None of their songs stuck around long enough to wear out their welcome. That's a rare talent they share with another acknowledged inspiration, Guided by Voices.
-Shane Harrison
- Atlanta Journal Constitution
This month presents an overabundance of bad band names, and Jondonson has to be one of the worst. Why would anyone want to go see a band named such a thing? Regrettably, their six-song EP Inverness Way (horrible title!) offers little in the way of recommendation. Hints of The Glands and Grandaddy, among others, bubble to the top intermittently, but the performances are flat and dull. The cover art's lame, too. Can't they get anything right?
-Jeff Clarke - Stomp and Stammer
This a charming little indie rock EP touched with just the right amount of bedroom fuzz. Is that description a little too cryptic for you? Lets ask the band how they describe their sound...
Over the past 4 years their sound has evolved from rudderless Rorschach experimentation into a compelling amalgam of lo-fi avante garde, indie-pop, psychedelia and country twang. Inverness Way, Jondonson's debut CD, was recorded in the guest room of a small 60's ranch near the 285 perimeter - the next best thing to tape hiss.
Yep, thats about right.
-Lauren Aparicio - breakthruradio.com
Discography
Inverness Way, our debut EP
Photos
Bio
We started this band so that I could tell you this story:
I remember, back in elementary school, a company called World's Finest. They made chocolate bars. You see, instead of living in a civilized western country, where the obvious solution to underfunded school programs is to re-allocate government spending to education, public schools are forced to enlist a third party for fundraising. Who better than World's Finest? You would purchase boxes of 15 candy bars, then turn around and sell them for $1 each. If you sold all of them, more boxes could be ordered to keep friends and neighbors in diabetic shock through the forseeable future. In theory, this would create a massive rush of capital to fund your little league world series, overseas chess club trip, or marching band function. I say in theory, because we all know what a World's Finest fund raiser was really about:
A. You get the box of candy bars.
B. You pawn them off on your parents, so they can sell them at work.
If memory serves, they used to make the arrangement super awesome by providing an incentive catalog. It provided a list of prizes that could be awarded, depending on how many bars you could sell. Usually the top shelf gifts were ridiculously cool, like a jet ski, hover bike, box full of puppies, or an NRA membership. If someone had the killer instinct and ruthless business savvy of, say, an ADD 10 year old, they were looking at an explosive sales career with no glass ceiling. I look back now with the regretful hindsight of an adult. I mean, what idiotic primary school kid WOULDN'T be able to move 10,000 units in two weeks? If I'd only known.
Of course, there were always those select few children who, fueled either by a multinational pharmaceutical company, or a whole hell of a lot of moxy, actually achieved these ridiculous sales goals. To those of you who actually pulled this off, my hat goes off to you. Hopefully, you work in ad sales. I'm pretty sure you're driving a nicer car than mine.
The best (and only) thing I ever won was an inflatable mylar cylinder that could be tossed great distances in the air (a little like lawn darts, without the danger factor). It broke 2 days later.
I thought of this while looking at our boxes and boxes of unsold CD's. Maybe I'll start a tour of school assemblies. The kids can sell the sonic masterpiece that is jondonson's Inverness Way to help pay for new polyester marching band pants.
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