We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

A Venerable Wreck

by Jason Simon

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Venerable Wreck via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days

      $18 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 21 Jason Simon releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Spectral Fields III, To the Dream Center, A Full Moon Raga 8/2/23, An Unexpected Evening Rain (Raga 4/12/23), Early Morning raga 3/9/23, Natural State, Hindsight 2020, On Dead Leaves, and 13 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $53.30 USD or more (35% OFF)

     

  • Hand Assembled Vinyl Replica CD
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    These are hand assembled by Sam Giles in the UK. Tip on type sleeve and full insert included. Only 50 made.

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Venerable Wreck via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
2.
3.
4.
Red Dust 03:58
5.
6.
Jupiter 02:38
7.
8.
The Old Ones 05:33
9.
10.
The door won't shut blues broken open wide, my brain black and blue for my heavenly bride. Full and feminine, I can't help but stare, you shed your skin again, a costume you no longer wear. The gold of the sun becomes silver as the moon. Bright blistering moon shining through my open door. What else could I do when I know who you're shining for.. Bright coruscant star a web I can't unwind my gates are unbarred for my heavenly bride The gold of the sun becomes silver as the moon. The door won't shut blues broken open wide nothing I won't lose with you right by my side.
11.
Hollow Lands 03:09
12.

about

Jason Simon, vocalist and guitarist of Washington D.C psych-rockers Dead Meadow, returns to his solo endeavours with his clearest and most ambitious album to date. His signature guitar, versatile as ever here, weaves through a dreamy and yearning lyrical universe on an album that brings together ideas from his band’s records filtered through a new instrumental dimension. A Venerable Wreck inhabits lands lying somewhere between cosmic psychedelia, backwoods Americana, intimate folk, and even country, with nods to early 60’s soul music, dub reggae, and American lo-fi.



After several albums with Dead Meadow on labels such as Matador and Xemu Records (his band’s own music imprint), Simon, surrounded by new collaborators, ventured into distant lands to release his latest effort through Chilean BYM Records (Föllakzoid, Chicos de Nazca, The Ganjas) who recently celebrated 10 years of existence. Jason became impressed with the label during a visit to the country in 2016, where Dead Meadow played a festival and performed at the record label, deciding that he would like to work with them.

Jason recorded the new songs at studios, including his own, in his resident city of Los Angeles CA, where he and Dead Meadow have resided for the last decade.

Working with a handful of superb musicians, including Nate Ryan of the Black Angels, Jason “Plucky” Anchondo from The Warlocks and Conner Gallagher of Calexico and John Doe, the songs were recorded with a focused direction that gives space to a melting pot of arrangements, bringing to life mythological tales, LA stories and well-constructed poems from the likes of Leonard Cohen.



Album opener “The Same Dream” sets the mood and context for the songs to come - a country-fantasy that cuts to the bone with an emotive banjo marking the tempo; while “See What It Takes” demonstrates Jason’s growth as a troubadour, giving a pronounced importance to the vocals and message. Metaphors and allegories are recited in “Snowflakes are Dancing” and “Door Won’t Shut Blues” followed by soft wah-wah solos and subtle tremolo infused guitars, which gravitate throughout the record, providing transient and surrealistic vibes, as well as a sonic narrative through-line. “No Entrance No Exit” and “Hollow Lands” move the cosmic Americana mood along, aided throughout the album by Gallagher’s impressive pedal steel work, while never losing the author’s personality, idea or drama.



“The Old Ones” ventures into near dub reggae territory with it’s Augustus Pablo-like melodica. The song “A Venerable Wreck” is the black sheep of the album, an instrumental with interweaving melodies, pulsing layers of tape echo, and a 1980’s lo-fi hip hop feel that immediately strikes the listener as aesthetically singular to the rest of the album. Yet it is this song which connects both sides of the record and showcases the complexities of the songwriter. A songwriter who is unwilling to compromise his vision simply to conform to the obvious. A songwriter who is not content to be pigeonholed into a single style or genre, even if it’s a genre which he helped define with his two decades plus work with Dead Meadow. A songwriter who can take you on a strange and utterly compelling journey through the heart of American music; touching on folk, blues, psych, lo-fi, art-rock, and then close the album with a song nodding towards the low rider soul classics of Billy Stewart and Brenton Wood, “Without Reason or Right’. Twenty years into an influential and impressive career, Jason Simon has raised the bar with A Venerable Wreck.

credits

released May 22, 2020

Jason Simon : Guitar, Vocals, Organ, Bass, Melodica, etc....
Nate Ryan : Bass, Organ
Ryan Rapsys : Drums
Mark Laughlin : Drums
Jason Anchondo : Drums
James Acton : Drums
Jon Randono : Synthesizer, Percussion
Scott Seltzer : Bass

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Jason Simon Los Angeles, California

"Cosmic Americana, Heavy Folk, Lunar Ambient, Stoner Raga, Nuanced Drone."
Best known for his work as guitar player, singer, and principal songwriter for seminal and long running psych/stoner band Dead Meadow, Jason Simon has also been steadily releasing music under his name as well as through various monikers and collaborative outings. Much of that music can be found here.
"TEKELI-LI" !
... more

contact / help

Contact Jason Simon

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Jason Simon recommends:

If you like Jason Simon, you may also like: