Pitchfork: Onelinedrawing Invite Fans, Colleagues' Contributions For Latest Album

Onelinedrawing Invite Fans, Colleagues' Contributions For Latest Album
Teaming with Cursive against their respective arch-nemeses, Pointillism and Scriptio Continua

[Updated Monday, February 2nd, 2004 03:30:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Damnstuffishardtoreadwhenyouwriteitlikethis. Jade Tree has announced that on March 23rd, they'll be releasing The Volunteers by Onelinedrawing (a.k.a. Jonah Matranga), the follow-up to 2002's The Visitor. The record was recorded all will-he nill-he in a variety of scenic locales, from bedrooms to studios to the heart of Amish country. Unfortunately, the songs recorded with the Amish will not appear on this album or any other, since the only recording device available was actually nothing more than a simple butter churn.

The Volunteers will be augmented by demo versions of album tracks and "additional" (since this isn't a reissue or anything, I'm not clear on how any of the liner notes are additional), but "additional" nonetheless, liner notes by Matranga, and by Onelinedrawing fan and Thursday member Geoff Rickly.

Matranga is a veteran of the Sacramento band Far (who broke up in the late '90s after signing with Sony) as well as Jade Tree's New End Original. Onelinedrawing is his solo-ish project, which he's taken on the road with the likes of Thursday, Coheed and Cambria, and Dashboard Confessional. If you're a label dude or PR chick writing a press release, Onelinedrawing's music can be described as "shimmering, eccentric pop rock." If you're a kid who actually listens to the stuff, it's totally emo-licious.

Matranga posted MP3s of the songs on his website during their incubation-- as a result, it's bolstered by outside input from people such as Rival Schools' Ian Love, who contributed ideas for guitar and bass flourishes, and by fans from sundry states singing along with Matranga's family on the chorus of "Over It." Interactive emo: three times as heuristic as regular emo! Somewhere in middle America, a kid plays "Over It" for his friends with a suave "I was there" smile on his mug. The tracklist:

01 New York
02 Over It
03 A Ghost
04 Superhero
05 Stay
06 We Had a Deal
07 Oh, Boys
08 Livin'_Small
09 Believer
10 Portland
11 As Much to Myself as To You

Matranga is also planning to stream a live performance on the Internet, but it's invite-only-- you have to sign up for the Onelinedrawing mailing list to get a chance to score a virtual seat. Onelinedrawing will hit a couple festivals this spring: the Jade Tree showcase at SXSW in Austin on March 19th, and the Skate and Surf Festival in Asbury Park, NJ, on April 16th. Citing chronic digestion problems, Onelinedrawing will emphatically not appear at the Surf and Turf Festival that's currently touring through Golden Corrals around the country.