Onelinedrawing - Visitor

Once upon a time there was a singer. He liked rock music. He joined a band. He played for a few years. Then he went solo. Now, after that child storytelling episode, I’m willing to bet that you envision Chris Carrabba and his emo bookmarks of Dashboard Confessional. But, in fact, Jonah Matranga and his pseudonym of Onelinedrawing are the centerpiece of that plotline. Long before Chris blotted tears with the emo hankerchief there was Jonah who ditched his seminal rock in Far for a shot at heart-mending solo songwriting. However, with the advent of Dashboard Confessional to MTV, magazine covers and the like, Onelinedrawing actually seems to have a selective audience – and not just on the smug independent level, either. As Visitor now reveals itself on the indie pop label Jade Tree, Onelinedrawing seem apt and ready to cut into the recent influx in emo disciples – after all, Jonah does deserve his share. However, this is where the cynic in me rears its head and Visitor begins to shed its initial heart-splintering teary-eyed delight to unravel Onelinedrawing as weak, tacky and hyperbolic acoustic drivel. Maybe I don’t understand this new heart-on-sleeve emo thing or maybe I just don’t want to, but Visitor lacks the dynamic appeal that other solo songwriters – mainly Sparklehorse and Elliot Smith – thrive beneath. Instead, Jonah puts sappy jangle pop along with acoustic guitars to torrent emotion that bypasses the term “palatable” to fit solely atop “tacky.” Despite the gashing weaknesses, you have to commend Onelinedrawing’s friendly disposition that glares from its website and quirky straight-from-the-journal charm that Visitor illuminates. That is if you can get past the painfully annoying lyrics of loss and rejection and feeble instrumentation. But, of course, that is what officially puts the prefix of “emo” into emotion. And that’s just fine, but I still don’t get it – why would I want to listen to some man’s aural diary put to a jangle-y guitar and impotent piano again? [www.onelinedrawing.com]