Radio Waves (Tone Tree) marks a significant milestone for an artist who’s been an all-around model of self-sufficiency. For his fifth studio album, the Bones Of J.R. Jones’ Jonathon Linaberry cleared the creative decks, hiring an outside producer for the first time. As it turns out, the one he picked was a perfect match for his latest nostalgia-laced batch of tunes. A Grammy nominee for his work with Feist, Robbie Lackritz does moody and hypnotic better than most, and he permeates Radio Waves with an uncanny sense of time and place: a distinct ’80s/’90s vibe. For Linaberry, those were the days when an album could change your life. And while Radio Waves may not change your life, it will move you in unexpected ways.
Here’s more from Linaberry on the album’s 11 tracks.
—Hobart Rowland
1) “Car Crash”
“As we get older, we realize that life and love will always be beautifully imperfect. It’s a disaster. It’s a car crash. But it’s something I like to think we always yearn for. There’s some part of us that wants it to hurt. If it hurts, you know it means something—and that’s all we ever really want.”
2) “Savages”
“‘Savages’ is about finding yourself out all night in the July heat under the city lights, at a house party or getting lost with your friends and being completely enveloped in that moment. It’s surrendering to that feeling, letting yourself feel wrecked, gut-punched, inspired and bleary-eyed. It’s about wanting to disappear right then and there in the hopes that time stops.”
3) “Heart Attack”
“This one always felt like the loneliest track on the album. For me, it’s about dealing with the expectations of family, loved ones and just life in general.”
4) “Shameless”
“I think we all struggle with the ‘what could have been’ question. What arrogant fool can’t look back and wonder? I’m just trying to recognize that in this song.”
5) “Catching You”
“Here I’m missing days of staying out on wild nights … of not caring, of being a stranger in a room.”
6) “Ghosts” (Featuring Two Runner)
“Young loves. Young friends. Just kids making silly promises to each other.”
7) “Wasting Some Time”
“It’s about fulfilling a role for someone you love deeply, but you recognize that life is too complicated to call it what it truly is.”
8) “Hills”
“I had a neighbor set fire to a giant brush pile in his yard. It burned for days. His wife had just died, and it felt like an effigy to me. I imagined him working through his loss and carrying on with his farm work. This song is about living in a town where you see this fire on the hill that burns and burns … and everyone imposes their own meaning on it.”
9) “Drive”
“I’ve spent so many years of my life driving myself around, playing my songs. Countless cities, countless late nights, trying to get home as fast as I can. Sometimes I do feel like I lose time. It’s the tediousness and monotony of the touring life, doing the same thing every night. I suppose this is my modest attempt to express my darker feelings on being a touring musician.”
10) “The Devil”
“It’s recognizing that maybe the one you love is the worst thing for you as a person, that maybe they represent the weakest point in your character. But you know you’re going to love them anyway.”
11) “Start Again”
“The repetitious arguments, the same highs, the same lows, the acknowledgment of changes needed and then doing it all over again. This song is about the hope of starting over—that maybe tomorrow will be different if we just put these feelings to bed tonight.”
See the Bones Of J.R. Jones live.
