Jack Logan’s charm lies in his unadulterated authenticity. Nature’s Assembly Line came about as part of the Monday Night Recording Club, a group of independent musicians that included Drive-By Truckers and Barbara Cue. Their spontaneous Monday-night drinking- and-recording sessions encouraged immediacy and creative flow, with the goal of 3 songs a night put down on Logan’s 4-track recorder (purchased with the insurance settlement money from a car accident in front of a Pizza Hut) in various living rooms around Athens, Ga. Anyone who showed up had to play on a track. We weren’t meant to hear these recordings, which is exactly why they’re so great. In an age of music as product, it’s wonderful to hear music for its own sake.
Nature’s Assembly Line’s accidental nature gives it infectious lifeblood, which is passed on to the listener. The lyrics sound like the faint ink traces of bar-top napkin scrawlings, eternal and ephemeral. The album’s range of styles—from light psychedelic pop to harder rock—blend and merge to convey a variety of moods.
Logan’s songs showcase the sound of a musician playing his passions. This record is about intimate gatherings and celebration. “I’ve never felt more alive in my life,” he sings on “The Race Is Running.” It’s hard not to believe him. And it’s even harder to avoid examining your own life as you listen, and to desire the same feeling Logan’s writing about.