Jason Collett Here's To Being Here by: Joseph Coscarelli Tue:19-Feb-08 Label: Arts & Crafts Year: 2008 WB rating 78 out of 100

The quest for the next Bob Dylan has always been inherently paradoxical. After all, the reason you'd even want another is because the first was never defined, never fully understood, and never pinned down. The man and the myth – so arduously defined in last year's Todd Haynes "biopic" I'm Not There – remains as elusive a legend as pop music has ever had, culturally camouflaged and bouncing between fake idol and true prophet, sometimes playing both simultaneously. Still, bits of Dylan's legacy can be found in Conor Oberst's wide-eyed idealism and sharp tongue, M. Ward's rustic timelessness, Elvis Perkins' quirky and winding wordplay, and here noteworthy, Jason Collett's vocal timbre.

On his fourth solo album, Here's To Being Here, Canadian veteran and sometimes Broken Social Scene member is not Bob Dylan. He is not even Oberst. But as a surface-level starting point, he has the gravel-like murmur and syllable-bending style down pat. On folky harmonica-laced numbers like the Marley-baiting 'No Redemption Song' and light shuffles like 'Henry's Song', with its slick religious prose and calls to St. Francis, he plays the part. Collett sings, "He always went for the madonna who was somewhat of a whore/Or was it the whore who was some kind of madonna?" warping the pronunciation in a warmly familiar manner.

So while Collett could have easily strapped on a six-string and portrayed a version of Robert Zimmerman alongside Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett, his full identity on Here's To Being Here is hardly derivative. Instead, the reference point serves as a welcoming first impression, both classic and accessible. Then, instead of settling comfortably into a second rate singer-songwriter rut, Collett reaches wide and expands the album's periphery, adopting a bongo backbeat here and a flowery electric riff there, adding handclaps and sing-along’s to garnish his fundamentally sound songs.

Lead track 'Roll On Oblivion' builds a driving number from a circular acoustic riff's catchy hammer-ons, a sparkling lead and twinkling electronics as vocal echoes build, exemplifying the album's full and clear production. 'Sorry Lori' follows, sounding like Jon Brion playing the Beatles – a prime Harrison-biting riff and vintage McCartney piano coda shining amid sparse verses.  'Out of Time' grooves with an "ooh, ooh" straight rock hook and guitar-as-synth solo, while the near-Latin percussion supporting 'Charlyn, Angel of Kensington' recalls fellow Social Scenester Andrew Whiteman and his world music-influenced Apostle of Hustle project.

Lines like "The stars came unglued and the sky fell in" from 'Through the Night These Days' exemplifies instances of obtuse lyricism that makes some songs' stories sound superfluous, but when he tames his poetic abstractions on the plaintive lost-love odes 'Nothing To Lose' and 'Not Over You', the stylistically scattered album feels like it's coming home. It's this variation though that keeps Here's To Being Here fresh and shows that Collett learned more than singing from Dylan: If you know who you are but keep it to yourself an assured identity comes through, building a commanding presence but not spelling things out, and the listener is left guessing. And that's what keeps them coming back.