photo by by Aaron Riches
Jai Agnish
After releasing his critically acclaimed electro-poppin’ debut, Automata in 2000, Jai Agnish dropped off the map and fled back to his bedroom, where music-making all began for him. He needed time to fall in love with making music again after a bout with music biz burnout and a busy newspaper reporter schedule at odds with the rock n’ roll night life. He did emerge, receiving a morale boost earlier this year from his friend and former band-mate, Sufjan Stevens, who included one of Agnish’s songs on the Mews Too Asthmatic Kitty compilation. At the turn of the year, Agnish built a MySpace site where he re-connected with peers, friends and fans. Agnish also took an editor job that enabled him to start performing regularly again. A fan of his who had just begun a new indie label came across Agnish on MySpace and asked if he’d like to work with him. And so it is with great pleasure that ClerestoryAV presents Mechanical Sunshine, a 15-song collection of material Agnish recorded between 2000 and 2005. The songs pick up where Automata left off, furthering his vision of man and machines that began, we think, with Kraftwerk in the 1980’s. Agnish kicks out drum machine beats and melody, lavishly spreading a thick layer of pop atop it all. Songs emerge from this cheerful experiment rich, lovely, and profoundly odd. It’s an approach that inspired the Village Voice to write that Agnish “might be the reincarnation of Nick Drake, who this time around decided to lock himself in his room and OD on a sampler, guitar, and some Fisher-Price instruments.” The Toronto Star described him as a “21st Century descendent of Nick Drake or Leonard Cohen” who “employs electronics to greatly expand the performance potential of folk’s typical guy-with-a-guitar format.” Pitchfork wrote, “Agnish blends electronics, toys, and folk into a chalice and offers it to you as a gift.”
Breaking down Mechanical Sunshine
Mechanical Sunshine documents the maturation of Agnish’s foray into electro-acousticism. And “Mr. Mission,” the opening cut, could be the realization of his vision to seamlessly fuse organic guitar and vocal work with machine-generated melody. The song was first released in 2001 on an overlooked compilation released by Vainglorious Home Recordings alongside a song by his friend and tour-pal Half-Handed Cloud. Seven more of the songs on this release were recorded in 2000/2001 around the time “Mr. Mission” was written and recorded. These include “Spaceship,” “Good Times, Good Night,” “Can You Fly,” “Carnival,” “Red Eyes In June,” and “Mind Pride.” All but “Spaceship” feature a more advanced drum machine and many of them include guest musical appearances from local musician friends. This is the material Agnish primarily performed in 2000/2001 in New York City, Toronto and Philadelphia bars and clubs and at North By Northeast with the assistance of, then unknown, Sufjan Stevens, who backed him on piano, analog keyboards, melodica, and at one point, a theremin. The recorded versions feature local Northern New Jersey friends Robert Wenzel on keys and melodica and Julie Bryant on backing vocals. “Good Times, Good Night” is the more upbeat pop song here while “Can You Fly” is sparse and a bit haunting. All of these songs were slated for release on not one, not two, but three different indie labels at various times – deals that, in the end, all disintegrated. Agnish did release a split E.P. on an Israeli-based label called Men of Israel Records in 2003 that featured pre-Automata material and two songs recorded around the time of Mechanical Sunshine’s “Where We Watch From.” “Where We Watch From” is the last of a batch of songs incorporating machine derived beats and melodies. JSRockit, who did programming on Automata, returned for a more prominent role on Mechanical Sunshine. He makes a guest rap appearance on “All I Ever Dreamed of (w/JSRockit)” and programmed the beats and melodies for “Yellow Balloon.” Agnish also works in an answering machine message JSRockit left for him on “You Made Me (w/JSRockit).” Agnish since eBayed off his drum machines and performs with a four-piece band he formed in April. Meanwhile, he and JSRockit continue to collaborate with guitars and machines and are planning a release of some sort at some point. “The Argument” and “Known You” are the only songs here without electronic elements, and they foreshadow Agnish’s departure from machine-based songwriting. Look for Mechanical Sunshine to hit stores and on-line outlets July 25th, 2006, on ClerestoryAV. Find more about Jai at jaiagnish.com and clerestoryav.com. For additional press resources, visit press.clerestoryav.com or e-mail chris@clerestoryav.com.
Discography