Crushed Grapes: a new solitary and unifying opus for Jason Bajada

« You can’t really save yourself from yourself, » says Jason Bajada. As it is in the nature of the singer-songwriter to explore different musical styles, it was only fitting that his 8^e album is an amalgam of everything that makes it vibrate. This new opus entitled Crushed grapes is described as a « fruit salad of themes, arrangements, texts and orchestrations » by its creator.

« I’m always touched and it always surprises me when someone takes the time to listen to one of my albums, » explains the artist from Montreal, who recently returned to the Laurentians who saw him. growing up.

Humble, open and generous, Jason Bajada does not hesitate to mention the dark moments experienced around six years ago to recount his personal and musical evolution (his depression, his anxiety and the fact that he « came very close to not no longer be there »).

The artist, who immersed himself in music at the age of 9 and began his career at 15, also had a good moment of hindsight to be able to understand and present this album well to the world. This one had been ready to be launched for three years already.

“It’s an album that was made gradually, says the 41-year-old musician. Because of the process, among other things. I did things backwards than usual; I made the album and then went to see Audiogram with my completed album. It’s really a studio album with a lot of orchestration and love. Each song is dressed and rich in sound.

Composed here, in the Magdalen Islands, there, in New York and Los Angeles, before the pandemic hit, Crushed Grapes takes its name from a passage in the novel Ask the Dust by John Fante. The eyes of a woman who had cried all the tears in her body were compared to crushed and desiccated grapes (crushed grapes). An image which charmed Bajada and which reflected well the melancholy felt in his album.

« At this point in my career, I’m no longer here to try to impress, but to show my strengths, » adds the man who had to work hard to manage to stop constantly comparing himself to others.

“I learned a lot and gained self-confidence in 2017 as I worked a lot on my own on my album. Then, for Crushed Grapesthere was also Connor who pushed me a lot.

This Connor in question is the producer Connor Seidel – who is co-producing the album – with whom the musician claims to have had a real musical crush. He was also able to count on his good friend Matt Holubowski to have echoes and sincere criticisms of the parts composing Crushed Grapes.

Kindness to yourself

The big message conveyed along this album? “Don’t be too hard on yourself: a message that I also send myself – mainly – to myself, adds Oscar’s new dad, 5 months. I am a « overthinker” (someone who thinks too much), but for the past five years I have been meditating and trying to have lower expectations of others and life. I try to practice the art of living in the present moment.

As for what makes him most proud of his album, it’s the song Walt Disney, quickly became his career favorite song. « I put everything I had for this song, both in the arrangements and in the orchestrations and the texts. »

The Scrapbook Crushed Grapes is available on the platforms