I am convinced, now — Jon Troast is a magician.<\/p>\n
Not that I\u2019ve ever spotted the peripatetic Wisconsin singer-songwriter with a twirly moustache and black tails, pulling a rabbit from a hat \u2013 he\u2019s perfectly happy to post slightly goofy homemade videos on YouTube, but I haven\u2019t seen that one.\u00a0 No, the sleight of hand accomplished by the shaggy young man-with-guitar whose fans call themselves Troasters is much more subtle.\u00a0 He approaches you with an easy smile, begins to strum his acoustic guitar, and it\u2019s only after you\u2019ve been lulled into the relaxed, open state he\u2019s clearly aiming for that you realize you\u2019ve been tricked; he\u2019s put a straw hat down on the table in front of you and pulled a song the size of a house out of it.<\/p>\n
The backstory is important to tell first, though.\u00a0 The intrepid Troast spent much of 2008 \u2013 at least when he wasn\u2019t cranking out two full albums of new material — hopscotching the country playing house concerts.\u00a0 In spring 2009 he took the concept to the next level and booked his 100 Concerts in 100 Days tour<\/a>, which took him from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to San Diego, California to South Portland, Maine and back in just over three months.<\/p>\n The songs that make up Living Room<\/i> were mostly composed during those travels, and recorded in the heat of a Nashville August after his return.\u00a0 For this disc, Troast once again teamed with producer Mitch Dane (Jars Of Clay), who previously helped him put a shine to the songs of Second Story<\/i><\/a> (2006), A Person And A Heart<\/i><\/a> (2008) and With, To, From<\/i><\/a> (2008).<\/p>\n The two songs here that are explicitly autobiographical \u2013 the title track and the closing \u201cSomewhere Down The Road\u201d \u2013 frame the album beautifully.\u00a0 The former\u2019s jaunty tone is underscored with accordion, as Troast narrates a typical day in the life of his living room tour.\u00a0 The subplot involving a mutual crush with one host\u2019s daughter feels like a cute goof until you listen again and catch the subtext \u2013 the fleeting nature of the connections Troast makes as he meets people, becomes part of their household for a few hours, and then drives away to start the cycle all over again.\u00a0 It\u2019s an odyssey rich with opportunities for a person as open to the world as Troast is, but one that\u2019s at its core so lonely that a person almost has to have the kind of relentlessly sunny optimism Troast possesses in order to survive the experience.<\/p>\n The first seven songs in this set really exemplify this \u201csearch out the positive\u201d outlook.\u00a0 \u201cOne Little Corner\u201d is about reaching the end of your rope and reeling yourself back in one step at a time.\u00a0 \u201cWhen Beauty Speaks\u201d is a witty take on the varying effects of natural and human beauty on the male of the species.\u00a0 And three tracks are about remembering to appreciate things — the little things that cement a relationship (\u201cJust Enough\u201d), the parent who does everything for everyone (\u201cThey Call Her Mama\u201d), and even the very moment you\u2019re inhabiting (\u201cFavorites\u201d).<\/p>\n Ironically, it\u2019s with \u201cSunshine Love\u201d that things turn more serious.\u00a0 Far from being the lightweight hearts-and-flowers song the title suggests, it\u2019s a rather serious-minded ballad about love as sustenance, something as necessary as sunshine for one\u2019s survival.\u00a0 And it\u2019s followed by the somber, gorgeous \u201cWhat Will You Hold Onto,\u201d in which Troast employs just guitar, cello, and guest Elizabeth Foster\u2019s voice in harmony with his own to essay a series of life\u2019s small calamities, finishing with the question we all face eventually: \u201cWhat will you hold onto \/ At the end of it all?\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s absolutely stunning, and its very simplicity and directness is the reason why.<\/p>\n And then you get to the end — \u201cSomewhere Down The Road,\u201d the emotional flip side of \u201cLiving Room,\u201d in which a more wistful Troast acknowledges the bittersweet nature of the path he has chosen for the past two years of his life.\u00a0 He enters new homes and meets new people every day \u2013 and then says goodbye to them, every day, not knowing whether they\u2019ll ever meet again.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Joy interwoven with sadness; simple songs bearing undercurrents of emotion powerful enough to knock you flat.\u00a0 You\u2019d best listen with care, because this dude is magic.
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