This week marked the 10th anniversary of Goon, the lone album from piano man turned Grammy-winning songwriter to the stars Tobias Jesso Jr. Shortly after releasing the LP, Jesso decided he did not want to be a recording artist and especially did not want to be a touring performer. I'd assumed we wouldn't get any more music from him except the tracks he helps to sculpt for other artists. But, assuming he's not taking the piss, he's been working on a Goon sequel.
Today Vulture published a new interview with Jesso conducted in honor of the Goon-iversary. During the video chat, interviewer Chris Stanton asked Jesso about a puppet that appeared onscreen with him, which led to a lengthy exchange about a new album called Goon 2 created with Jesso's former gardener, Martin Martini:
This is random, but I have to ask: What’s that behind you? A Sesame Street puppet?
Oh, no, I actually had that puppet made. That’s of my gardener. His name’s Martin Martini. He helped me write my next album.How did your gardener help you write your next album?
He was gardening my ex-wife’s property in Australia. I really didn’t like him at first. Then he started to open my eyes to see things in a different way. I couldn’t tell whether he was full of shit or not, so it was a confusing journey. He has his opinions about Goon, and he had no problem telling me those opinions.What were his thoughts on Goon?
Very critical. I think that resonated with me, because I’m critical of myself. I started talking to him about music and liking what he had to say, and feeling like I had weak points when I was on my own and that maybe I was just waiting for someone to figure out those weak points. I was like, Cool, how do I get stronger at this stuff? When I write songs with other artists, I can feel their truth much better than I can for myself. So the Martin Martini version of making an album was for him to do that to me. And we wrote the new songs in two and a half weeks.Is it similar in sound to the first Goon?
Yeah, here’s the funny thing: You could put those two back-to-back. It really was a return to center.And you’re calling it Goon 2?
Yeah, it’s Goon 2.
That's quite the exchange. I'd like to know why Jesso had someone make a puppet of this guy, but I see why the conversation went the way it did when the new album news broke. Read the rest of the interview here and keep your eyes on the horizon for Goon 2 news.
