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PORTRAITS is a collection of songs Emily and I recorded in the basement of a stone house near Providence, Rhode Island in the summer of 2003, with the help of some friends. Last year I got my hands on the original ADATs and realized I still loved the music but couldn’t stomach most of the lyrics. So, sticking with the original concept of rendering a bunch of bite-sized, slice-of-life portraits, I started over with the words and the whole thing came back to life. With the aid of Victor Reynolds and Kate McLoughlin, I recorded new vocals and instrumental overdubs, creating this hybrid recording which, though not strictly Jack O’ the Clock, seemed to have enough band members contributing to refer to by that name.

At the time that I wrote these songs, in my early 20s, I was primarily focused on contemporary classical composition and had the ridiculous notion that I’d outgrown songwriting. As a result, when I did pick up my dad’s old Martin it was off the record, and these front porch songs, unburdened with big ideas or ambitions, just flowed downhill in the direction of pure pleasure.

I’m grateful to Rochelle Hannon and Roger Vaughan for opening their home to me that summer, and Roger for contributing some of the best bass lines I’ve ever heard to a few of these tracks. Also to Brad Mehlenbacher, courtesy of The Rolling Blackouts and Daily Mouse, who came in one day, listened to the songs once, then breezed these graceful drums over them as if he’d known them for years.

--Damon Waitkus

"[JOTC] present visions of a hybrid American history, part fact, part poetry, part visionary hallucination…superimposing stories, memories, and fleeting dialogue on top of each other in each compacted song…elaborate chord changes, swoon-worthy layers of vocal harmonies….creaky and clunky percussion and melodies [that] weave their way around your head like creepers in a tree…”--THE SOUND PROJECTOR

1. jackotheclock.com