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Although Justin's solo work is what he likes to call "wuss rock": melodic, introspective, almost ballad-y reflections on love, loss, and leaving, Justin's early music career was less vocals, more shouting. The San Jose, California native played guitar with punk and industrial bands The Blamed, Mortal, and Spitkiss, whose remixed single “Violent Consumption" landed a spot in a Mercedes-Benz television ad.
After the release of his first record, he sold everything he owned and departed on a year-long driving tour across the United States in a tiny red Fiat convertible. Everything he didn't sell was crammed in the car with him, and along the way, he stayed with fans of his blog and people who had contributed to the production of his music.
Justin's newest addition to his solo work, the eccentrically delicious "Leaving," is a sweet, delicately forceful collection of songs about love, loss, and what happens after both. The bastard child of the familar and the forgotten, it explores the vibrant, the variegated, and the carnivalesque, mixed with smart, introspective lyrics and amazing production quality.
Recorded at the Aerosol Grey Machine studios in Malmo, Sweden, with Swedish band Brainpool's frontman Christoffer Lundquist, "Leaving", like Justin's previous solo album "Thirteen Songs About Love", is reminscent of Shearwater, Bon Iver, and The Shins...if they joined forces with Brian Wilson.
"His music is so much who he is, and he really writes what he knows," says Lisa Klein of OpticNoise Music Licensing and Distribution. Far from morose, "Leaving" layers songs celebrating the sweetness of kissing next to songs making wry observations on the nature of heartache. The cover of "Don't Fence Me In", originally made popular by crooner Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, he explains by saying, "That's what I want played at MY funeral." The title song and the album's coda, "Leaving" was written for Spitkiss bandmate and longtime friend Adam Bannister's mother.
Despite the recent release of "Leaving", he is currently working with Mark Mazzetti of Mazzetti Entertainment Worldwide to produce an as-yet untitled CD for release in 2010.
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