Hopeful Monster

My name is Jason and I've been making electro-orchestral pop music as Hopeful Monster for nearly 20 years. I write, sing, play a lot of instruments and produce recordings, and I have a pool of really talented musicians I hire whenever I can.

I call my music Psychedelic Chamber Pop, which I think sums it up — catchy songs, slightly off-kilter, merging 60/70s popsike, singer-songwriter, electro, indie, vintage country and contemporary art-pop influences. I love using unorthodox combinations of instruments and every song gets a unique treatment. My mission is to create spellbinding listening experiences that are also emotionally authentic.


What is a Hopeful Monster?

I got the name from an antiquated scientific theory that evolution can occur not gradually over many generations, but suddenly, in a single generation. Like if a horse gave birth to a unicorn. Admittedly, not the accepted model for biological evolution. I simply meant I would be pulling my 60/70s influences through the vortex of my own life into the present world — the best of yesterday's dreams for the future, filtered through me, so to speak. But without any cheesy '80s production.

It's a metaphor for the human spirit too. We put our best foot forward, despite our limitations. Every act is a lightning bolt, fixing a cloud of values from the past into the fertile soil of the present moment. This is how we wish great things into existence, and also abolish horrors. Culture is a very real beast, fast-evolving, leaps and bounds quicker than the human genome. Are we spiritually light-years ahead of our animal biology? Or just beginning to catch up, and become all we can be as a species… it's not clear. Maybe a little gated reverb will bring things into focus. Just a little.


Gifts from a Flower to a Seed

Since I became a father, touring has been more-or-less on hold, apart from a few solo trips. I put out a new album every five years or so, and play local shows with my string section and some other amazing musicians. I balance work & family every day, recording in a tiny (but sweet!) home studio in our backyard, always there for my girls when they need me.

And as it turns out, when I need them. My oldest sings a little on my last album, and a lot on my new one. She's 12 *and-a-half* now, but made her glockenspiel debut at seven at a Hopeful Monster show. When her Little Sisters stop using the maracas as weapons, they can audition.


Growing Conditions

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for becoming a patron if you can. It's easy, you can choose your level of support and cancel any time. In real terms, it's a monthly commitment to spend what you might on a cup of coffee, decent breakfast, dinner for one, or lunch for a family, helping bring music into the world instead. 

In an age when corporations are siphoning obscene CEO salaries off every endeavour, creators are running on fumes. I want to show my daughters they can devote themselves to something beautiful and ambitious, even if it rankles industry gatekeepers. Because there are believers out there, happy to put their money where their heart is! And it only takes a handful.