Onelinedrawing

Sketchy EP #1 (Crank!)
by Tim Den

I’m a huge fan of Jonah Sonz Matranga, ex-Far, presently solo as Onelinedrawing, all around intelligent/emotional/down-to-Earth/deity-incarnated singer. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him, and even accompanied him on tour a few times, and the man is pure brilliance. Which is why I can’t figure out why I don’t like Sketchy EP #1. It’s not that it’s a “disappointment” (let’s face it, most music is compared to Far), it’s more like, “Okay, this is kind of nice, but where does it go from here?” The songs are mostly acoustic with unabashed winks to Cheap Trick and Sinead O’Conner, played with soul-touching integrity and gentleness, but there’s no great impact on the listener. Some of Far’s most tender songs encompass all of the above and manage to capture a divine sense of importance, which in turn makes Onelinedrawing sound honest, but they’re ultimately not the greatest batch of tunes. I know on a personal level that Jonah can do much better than this, which is why I’m looking forward to Sketchy EP #2 (coming soon, supposedly). I hope that the magic, with all the usual Jonah misty-eyed/tingly-spine melodies, will be along for the ride next time.
(www.crankthis.com)