Motor Motel Love Songs

Album Review

Toronto man about town Jason Collett unfolds his sleeve to reveal a happily bleeding heart on this collection of material from past releases (four of Motor Motel's tracks are culled from his 2001 release, Bitter Beauty). Collett's voice isn't mind-blowingly amazing, but it is brimming with warmth, and he has a cigar box full of stylistic implements with which to accompany it. Together with a gaggle of talented pals, he sells his material at a reasonable and honest price — it's like a set of pleasantly this-or-that rockers on a late-night left-of-dial radio station. "Tiny Ocean of Tears" is glorious, jangly pop with double-tracked vocals and a splashy snare, while ballads like "Little Clown" and "Choke Cherry" drift in cigarette smoke and resonate with earthy, economical instrumentation. It's in these more moody moments that Collett really shines. "It Won't Be Long" — his collaboration with Hawksley Workman — is fragile with its vintage keys and strummed acoustic guitar. "You can tell yourself it's nothing serious," Collett sings in your ear. "But you're in love." And yet, his weary words could be cutting through the hushed air of a bedroom still charged with the afterimages and realizations of a three-hour fight. These whoop-de-dos of emotion keep Collett's straightforward style consistently interesting. Sure, "Gabe" and "Lucky Star" are a bit like throwaways — the former is vacant in that Pete Yorn sort of way, while the latter is an easygoing jam, like a spontaneous cover of "Dead Flowers." But they shimmer and shimmy respectively, and feature great guest work from Toronto locals like Andrew Cash, Mia Sheard, and Kersti McLeod, and Patrick Gilmour of Ruby Drake. In the end, Motor Motel Love Songs is as graceful as the fading light of day, and as comfortable as the predictable old creaks of a trusted pickup truck.