Artist
In 2001, Nick moved to Portland and started a rock band called Binary Dolls, singing the songs and playing the Fender Rhodes keyboard. He left his folk songs behind for awhile. Binary Dolls recorded an album called Too Much Thinking Sinks Ships and received attention for the song “I Am The Only Master of the Ten-Key” which led to a wonderful music video featuring a pygmy goat and a giant rubber duck. (see here)
In late 2004, Nick found himself housesitting for some friends who were on tour in Europe for a month. They had a recording studio in the house, and Nick was jobless and almost broke, so he bought a few cans of food and spent the month recording what would become The Bluff of All Time, a very spare and delicate album of somewhat spiritual songs. He revisited old songs that he hadn’t played in years, wrote new ones about loss and heartache, and remembered what he had learned long ago: that folk music is not hip, but it’s very important.
In 2005, Nick embarked on a special tour of the South, going from California to New Orleans and back again all in the disquieting comfort of the Greyhound Bus. There were at least three blind men on buses during the trip, not to mention the Ray Charles movie that was showing on the trip from Austin to Houston, leading Nick to think that maybe the world was telling him that he was blind to something. But what? Maybe digging could help.
He briefly got a job digging a trench in Portland, one of perhaps 30 different jobs in 2005 alone, but this time Nick wasn’t able to dig his way to a brighter tomorrow. He was fired after only half a day. He turned to music full time, designing posters for rock shows and producing music for other bands.
In 2006 he released the album The 7 Stations, a sprawling collection of songs recorded in many different places around Portland, with many different talented musicians. The album is being reissued by HUSH Records in the spring of 2008.
In 2007 Nick toured Finland, Alaska and the continental United States. He recorded songs on an old piano that became the album WOOL, which is being released on HUSH Records on March 4th, 2008. A two month tour of the country will follow. And in the fall of 2008, a full-band album will be released as well.
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Discography
Live Performance
Nick Jaina- Live On The Outside World
Also Featured In: Album
KEXP Live, November 2010
