Listening Between the Lines

Jason Mezilis

Analog Axe-Slinger Jason Mezilis Steps into the Spotlight with Debut EP

Who is Jason Mezilis? Give a cursory listen to his new EP Between the Lines, released at the tail end of 2009 on his own Organic Audio imprint, and you'll get only the faintest of traces. On first listen, the dramatic interpretations of four cover songs and one original seem too bewilderingly eclectic to come from the same creator. The lush "California Dreamin'" sounds like Mezilis could have recorded it a month after the original, while his heavy-riffing, 7/8 take on the Elvis staple "That's All Right Mama" has a thoroughly modern guitar-rock revisionism to it. Mezilis cakes Dylan's "All I Really Want to Do" in Hendrixian blues grime and another serpentine time signature, but the gorgeous acoustic instrumental "Jerry's Song" sparkles with clarity.

Repeated listens to Between the Lines find a few through lines that help this variegated album cohere: Mezilis's adventurous arrangements, soulful singing, inventive production choices and mastery of guitar tone. That an album so all over the place can retain such a connective, under-the-surface subtlety is one of two reasons the EP's title is so appropriate. The other is that Mezilis wrote and recorded these tracks in downtime in between recording projects, including the ragged garage-rock band Your Horrible Smile, the dirt rock duo The Solo Project, the idiosyncratic hard rock band Owl and the beautifully textured alternative rock group The Megasoul Connector.

Mezilis started out on piano as a child, but if you listen to him talk about his reaction to revered classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz, you can easily understand why he's now drawn to big guitars: "It wasn't just the sound; it was a combination of that and the way he whammed on the instrument. Somehow, it came out huge and beautiful." There was certainly plenty of instrument-whamming in the Def Leppard and Van Halen he listened to as a teenager. And while a bone condition in his left arm kept him from learning to shred on par with his hard rock heroes, Mezilis's wrist problem forced him to focus more on feel and emotion. These are two hallmarks of Mezilis's guitar playing, regardless of the project he's working on.

Feel is also central to Mezilis's work as a producer. Capitalizing on his ear for earthy, vintage tones, Mezilis recently opened Organic Audio Recorders studio in Downtown Los Angeles. The studio specializes in analog recording and mixing, and prides itself on not having a single computer on premises. Mezilis keeps busy recording and collaborating with tip-top talent at Organic Audio -- recent recordings by Arrica Rose, Eddie and the Dirty Pennies and Garden Spiders each feature Mezilis's warm, full-spectrum productions. Mezilis is currently working on an upcoming album by Noah Engh, and an EP for L.A. sludge-punkers Kamikaze. These days he's inspiring the next generation of axe-slingers by encoding many of his productions for downloadable release on RockBand.

Still, Between the Lines is perhaps the best calling card for Mezilis's unique, old-school approach toward recording. "Having all of these options - pedals, concepts and different things - inspires most people," he explains, "but at the root of what I'm trying to get across artistically is the idea of being inspired by and finding art through limitations… music is about distilling down to the abstract, to the purity of the song and the sound. At the end of the day, the song serves the feel. And the feel is the most important thing."

Mezilis certainly walks the walk on Between the Lines. A singular voice emerges over the course of its five tracks, and that's especially impressive given that all but one song is a cover. Mezilis convinces us that these familiar tunes are his own.

For more information about Jason Mezilis:

Jason Mezilis on MySpace

Jason Mezilis on Facebook

Organic Audio Recorders on MySpace

The Megasoul Connector on MySpace

Owl website

- Etan Rosenbloom