Once upon a time, I saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and it blew my mind. One of the main reasons it was so great to me was the music in it that so helped set the tone of the movie. So I did a little research and found out a fella named Jon Brion composed the soundtrack. Thanks to the great Wikipedia, I found out a lot more about him than just that, like that he has done a bunch of other soundtracks for movies that have been equally or almost as good as Eternal Sunshine, such as Punch Drunk Love, Magnolia, and I Heart Huckabees. Damn, what a record!

After sufficient time spent reveling in his soundtracks, I decided it was time to check out his solo musical outing, Meaningless. Disappointed, I was not. This guy’s extensive career backlog, including the aforementioned movies (as well as like four more), a presence in multiple indie bands, and role as producer for an array of musical acts, including Aimee Mann (his one-time girlfriend), Kanye West, Spoon, Rufus Wainwright, Brad Mehldau, The Crystal Method, Keane, and Dido, amongst others, has honed his songwriting and producing skills to a ridiculous level, to the point that every song is fully fleshed out and atmospheric, which compliments well his already excellent songwriting ability. With a voice that often recalls his late friend, Elliott Smith, Brion croons, serenades, and falsettos his way through expertly crafted songs with seemingly filler-less lyrics that have obviously had a lot of time and thought put into them.

‘Gotta Start Somewhere’ is an upbeat, catchy album opener that sets the tone for the rest of the album, lyrically, and somewhat musically, though about half of the songs on this album are more downbeat. But if ‘Gotta Start Somewhere’ is upbeat, then I don’t know how to describe ‘I Believe She’s Lying’. It’s fast, energetic, and fun, with a great chorus. In it, Brion uses the same super awesome vocal effect that Imogen Heap uses in Zach Braff favorite, ‘Hide and Seek’ (if you don’t already know that song, do yourself a favor and check it out). I’ve chosen a sample of lyrics from this song that I think are indicative of Brion’s clever writing style, and I think they’re a good example of what one can expect from this album in terms of quality.

“As sure as she is sitting here, she’s sure that she’s awake
And as soon as we’re committing we’re admitting our mistake
So of course it’s only fitting, that the course we’re going to take
Is drawn and whereupon I’m slamming on the brakes

I believe she’s lying,
I trust her to undermine my faith in her, in time
I have every confidence that she’ll dismantle mine,
Given time”

‘Meaningless’, the titular track, is a rock track that finds Brion thinking about the little things in life that are ‘meaningless before we’d seen them together’. ‘Ruin My Day’ is a song that sounds like its writer was downtrodden and depressed, but through these things has become empowered. The droning, withering strings that blossom by the end of the track help set the regretful tone of the song. The ballsy, Beatles-esque drive of ‘Walking Through Walls’ sounds like ‘Revolution’ raped an Elton John song, then the proceeding child sought therapy to get his head right, then decided therapy was for the queers, bought a guitar, and took lessons from Lennon himself. ‘Trouble’ is one song where his composer background is directly noticeable, especially in the main musical hook. Another one of the slower songs, ‘Hook, Line, and Sinker’ is a lamenting song about how we get stuck in certain roles in life, especially in relationships, and how we often revert to those roles in times of uncertainty, even though we know it won’t help us in the long-run. ‘Dead to the World’ is a bipolar song; the first half is happier, bossa nova-esque, while the latter half is a sad, acoustic ballad. ‘Her Ghost’ is a very atmospheric song, slow and sad, about a love triangle, and the losing sixty degrees that Brion seems to have been on. ‘Same Mistakes’, a short song in which Brion explains his faults to someone, and proclaims that he doesn’t want to make the same mistakes again, is followed by the closing song, ‘Voices’. It’s the longest, saddest, falsettoest song on the album. It’s a softer piano song in which Brion openly retracts the rest of the albums messages, simply telling the object of his lyrics, “Hey, it’s me again. I’m so in love with you again. Please can I see you every day?” After an album of songs dedicated to proving that he has moved past an old flame and has regained his independence, with the tension and heartbreak mounting and the memories resurfacing, he finally relapses, and it’s absolutely beautiful to behold.

The only complaint I have about this album is that basically every single song is about a girl, but Brion handles it pretty maturely, and the quality of the songs themselves more than make up for this small note. Throughout all of Meaningless, Brion proves that he is ridiculously good at evoking through music the moods that tend to accompany the lyrical subject matter, a master of sentiment, feeling, and emotion. He knows just how to accentuate and nuance every song, imbuing them with unbelievable atmosphere so you’ll always have something to catch onto in every song, whether it’s a musical hook, the generous amount of catchy vocal melodies, or the seriously quote-worthy lyrics. In short, the production is amazing, which is not surprising. On top of all that, he plays all the instruments on the album with the exception of ‘Trouble’, on which he had some friends back him up. All in all, the album has not a sour note, nor a floundering track. Meaningless is a remarkably solid collection of songs that each have their own personality.