Jets To Brazil
Perfecting Loneliness

THE REVIEW

People like Blake Schwarzenbach deserve a monument. A great man and (if I may use the term) a great storyteller, the mind behind the fantastic Jawbreaker, he should be taken as an example of consistency, intelligence, rigor, and inflexibility for all music enthusiasts, the kind of music made with heart and passion and not just to fatten wallets.

The young emocore generation made in MTV, all bermuda shorts and trendy haircuts, should blush and bow down to this man who, for 15 years (or maybe more), pursued his own path regardless of trends and gifted us with wonderful and ever-relevant music, a source of inspiration (or worse, of imitation...) for myriad bands in the emocore scene, and beyond. Jawbreaker was an unfortunate band that did not receive the public success it deserved: too positive and clean to enter the big grunge cauldron, too uncommercial for the mid-90s neo-punk explosion wave, they had an ill-fated major experience with Geffen, which wanted to turn them into the new Green Day (!), resulting in a breakup. Subsequently, Blake Schwarzenbach, vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist, together with former Texas Is The Reason drummer Chris Daly and former Handsome bassist Jeremy Chatelain (later joined by guitarist Brian Maryansky) founded Jets To Brazil. To be clear, they are a superb band.

The tones have become more subdued and reflective compared to the Jawbreaker experience, and the positive energy of the previous band is channeled into a more elaborate and thoughtful sound, very evocative. Where before they arrived with impact, now they arrive with technique and finesse; what remains intact is the passion. The pinnacle of their discography, in my opinion, is represented by "Perfecting Loneliness," a 2002 album released by Jade Tree.
"Perfecting Loneliness" has everything: great lyrics (very autobiographical, melancholic yet imbued with hope and optimism), great tracks excellently arranged (fantastic use of synthetic strings!), excellent production, and above all, the unmistakable and inimitable voice of Schwarzenbach, which has reached levels of absolute excellence and expressiveness. Every track on the album exudes great passion and authenticity, and presents such a quantity of ideas and cues with which any other group of the genre would have constructed at least 3 or 4 tracks. But not Jets To Brazil. The key to the album is what happens at the 4-minute and 10-second mark of "Lucky Charm": a rocking ballad full of hope, then a fantastic dreamy break made only of synthetic strings, with vibraphone and piano entering and the piece becomes something else, becoming more reflective and intimate. Simply magnificent. The entire album is at these levels, particularly beautiful are the opening "The Frequency", "You're The One That I Want", "Perfecting Loneliness" (initially driving and rocking, then reaching remarkable levels of pathos: textbook), "Autumn Walker" and the final piano, guitar, and effect-laden vocal ballad "Rocket Boy".
Unfortunately, "Perfecting Loneliness" will remain the last album for Jets To Brazil: after the tour following the album in 2003 they broke up; it seems that now Blake Schwarzenbach writes for a video game magazine. They would have deserved more luck and greater success, maybe not a mass success (which for a band like this is perhaps a utopia), but I would at least like them to be more known and remembered because they truly deserve it, it would be an enormous satisfaction for me.

At this point, a little provocation about success fits, although without polemic intentions: no offense, but why not them and, let's say, the (albeit respectable and good) Foo Fighters? In any case, a reunion for Jets To Brazil would be a must. I hope for it.