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Hi My Name Is Jonny ( 1996 )8.5 Love Lovely Love / Truly Ugly and Dead Too / In My Mind / Evil Scurvy Love / Gone Away / Down Low / Half Mind / It’s Good to Sleep / I Don’t Know What to Dream at Night / Uh-Oh Going for 2.50 Euro (God bless the sales bins!), this
ultra-short album (24:15) is one of the best buys I ever did. In 1995,
Polonsky, a 20-year old struggling amateur musician, attracted the interest
of his hero, ex-Pixies front-man Frank Black, who got interested in the
kid’s songs and eventually secured him a record deal with Rick Rubin’s
American Recordings. The surprising result reminds me a bit of the better
moments of Jonathan Richman (the late 70’s-period with the Modern
Lovers) and Matthew Sweet, but mainly of Frank Black’s own solo
output, although Polonsky’s lyrical matter is probably slightly
less weird, and his music a bit more accessible. But like Black, Polonsky
is his own man, and according to the liner notes he performed the entire
album himself. The result is a spiky brand of power pop, unpretentious
and with astonishingly infectious melodies, while the sound (Polonsky’s
self-recorded tapes were mixed by the notorious Brendan O’Brien
(Pearl Jam, The Black Crowes, RATM, etc.)) is excellent, with quite some
loud drums (cf. early Pixies), acoustic and electric guitar, and some
piano-touches here and there. Definitely not your average pop star, Polonsky
succeeds in providing songs that have a charming and often timeless quality,
even after many spins. |
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| Album opener “Love Lovely Love” is one of the most joyous love songs I ever heard. Indeed, for once it’s not a song about heartbreak (in the misery-obsessed 90’s!), but the ideal side of love, which Polonsky isn’t ashamed to address: “And I break out with copious tears, rejoicing at the joy in my life at the moment, yeah I can break out with numerous fears, I can’t believe that somehow you would want me with you.” At 1:47, “Truly Ugly and Dead Too” is over before you realize it, but soon you’ll realize you’re stuck with a great chorus in your head. “In My Mind” really reminds me of Black’s efforts, but that's to be seen as a positive thing here, since Polonsky is more than capable of coming up with first-rate stuff of his own, notwithstanding the classic approach (acoustic verse, loud electric chorus). Equally impressive are the lengthier “Half Mine” (going on for an astonishing 4:04), which has some cool effects that give the guitar a “watery” sound, and the similar “Uh-Oh,” perhaps the album’s most nonsensical song, which has a chorus that consists of only “Uh” and “Oh” and has other metaphysical lines such as “Later that day near the ruins of old Pompeii, I learned of what it was that had felled me, standing in the sand, talking to a wise woman, she said ‘Oh, don’t you know boy? Souvlaki!.” “Gone Away” is reminiscent of Jonathan Richman’s primitivism and contains a grand theatrical solo-moment. “Down Low” and “I Don’t Know What to Dream at Night” speed things up for a while, and are exciting little gems (both clocking in under two minutes) with a simple structure, but a perfect rousing execution. It should be clear by now that I consider Hi My Name Is Jonny one hell of a record (a 8.5). It’s indeed a pity that Jonny Polonsky's output is so meagre (I think he only released one EP (2001) since this album), mainly as a result of label-problems. Therefore this album should be treasured, because it’s so worth it. Go, Jonny, go! Note: check out Polonsky’s website (which hasn’t been updated for a while, I think), www.jonnypolonsky.com, for more information, and if you like what you see, send him an e-mail, just like I did. He’s a nice guy, so he’ll get back to you. Artists like him deserve more than they get. |
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Read album reviews of similar or related artists: Weezer - The New Pornographers |
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