Jonathan Something, Miles Hewitt

Miles Hewitt at The Sultan Room

Jonathan Something is no stranger to transformation. Born Jonathan Searles in Brooklyn, CT, the critically acclaimed songwriter has shed his creative skin repeatedly, disappearing for years at a time only to return with a radically reimagined sound and fresh lyrical perspective on each successive record. But even for a lifelong chameleon, Searles’mesmerizing new album, One More Lonesome Cowboy Song, marks a radical departure.

Recorded and produced by Searles, who also plays all of the instruments, the collection is gentle and hypnotic, with an intimate, understated delivery that’s at once aching and beautiful. The songwriting is indeed rooted in the cosmic cowboy tradition of Gram Parsons or Gene Clark, but the recordings share more in common with Neutral Milk Hotel or Elliott Smith, layering up fingerpicked acoustic and electric guitars with hushed, serenely doubletracked vocals. The result is an album that feels both lush and raw at the same time, a captivating inner monologue of a record that finds comfort in slowing down, tuning in, and making peace with the moment.

One More Lonesome Cowboy Song follows an eclectic series of early albums that ranged in style from blistering garage rock and quirky anti-folk to retro synthpop and sample-laden neo-soul, prompting NPR’s Slingshot series to hail Searles’“delightfully bizarre” approach and The Line of Best Fit to declare that “he’s thrown out whatever rulebook he went by (if there ever was one).”