On his new album, Time Traveler (Wibertone Records), singer/songwriter Jason Wilber deftly addresses such heavy subjects as the temporal nature of existence, the human condition, and the interplay between life and death in a manner that is both emotionally captivating and intellectually stimulating to the listener of its 12 tracks.
Across the record, the long time guitar player for John Prine gives us a diverse set of songs that highlight his ability to observe and capture, in words and music, a number of dilemmas and issues common to us all.
Highlights include “Poet’s Life,” which deals with the struggles and pressures of being an artist in society, “The Disappearance of Bigfoot,” a song concerned with the environmentally destructive tendencies of man and “Living in Space,” a cautionary tale about the current trajectory of us as a race of people.
For Wilber on this album, there is no escaping the principle of the inexorable and unfeeling march of time, of the cyclical nature of life and death, and of the consequences of our individual and collective actions upon this Earth.
Even as the singer/songwriter gives us plenty of lyrical food to feast upon with these songs, he freely admits there are no easy answers to any of the questions that he raises, even as the questions, he also admits, themselves are endless.
Masterfully navigating through the soundscape he has created, Wilber, in the end, presents his creations on this album in a way that a lesser skilled songwriter wouldn’t have been able to do. While you undeniably hear the influence of his former boss of 24 years John Prine in these songs, with Time Traveler, you also undeniably hear that Wilber continues to show that he is a songwriting force to be reckoned with in his own right.
Time Traveler by Jason Wilber will be available on May 29th on his website .
Credits: Jason Wilber – Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin, Harmonica, Bass, Percussion, Susan Anderson – Violin, Shannon Hayden- Cello, Produced and Mastered by Paul Mahern