CD Reviews

Jason Anderson

Tonight | ECA

By CHRIS BROOK | August 7, 2007

2.5 Stars

Jason Anderson

As a note on his Web site hints, New Hampshire–based singer-songwriter Jason Anderson will play anywhere — in some circles he’s better known for playing cozy basements than rock clubs. On his third CD, he’s an enthusiastic rock-and-roll merrymaker, largely abandoning his usual forlorn numbers for big multi-part sing-along harmonies that sound more like Springsteen circa “Hungry Heart” than anything you’d expect to come out of the heart of New England. Still, he waxes poetic about mosquito bites, hanging out in parking lots, and the sort of small-town kitsch that illustrates his earnestness through the lens of well-worn folk pop. A choir of nearly 50 back-up singers hammer home the choruses of these party anthems while Anderson is left holding the baton. And “July 4, 2006” is so bustling with handclaps and call-and-response refrains that it’s better suited to a summer barbecue than a basement.

Jason Anderson + Ponies in the Surf + Ette | August 15 | T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge | 617.492.2327