Jon Brion (born December 11, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score composer.
Brion has produced music for artists and bands including Of Montreal, Aimee Mann, Love Jones, Eels, Fiona Apple, Elliott Smith, Robyn Hitchcock, Rhett Miller, The Crystal Method, Kanye West, Sky Ferreira and Mac Miller. According to Stereogum, Brion's work on Mann's first solo albums "lay the groundwork for a sound that became synonymous with a strain of notable alternative acts at the turn of the century".
Brion's film scores include Hard Eight (1996), Magnolia (1999), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I Heart Huckabees (both 2004), Synecdoche, New York (2008), ParaNorman (2012), Lady Bird (2017), and Christopher Robin (2018). He released his debut solo album, Meaningless, in 2001.
Early life
Brion was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, on December 11, 1963. He comes from a musical family; his mother, LaRue, was an administrative assistant and singer, and his father, Keith Brion, was a band director at Yale. His brother and sister became a composer/arranger and a violinist, respectively. Brion grew up in Connecticut, where he dropped out of Hamden High School at the age of 17, opting instead to play music professionally. From 1980 to 1985 Jon was part of the band The Excerpts, along with Stephen Harris, Dean Falcone, Jim Balga, Bobby Butcher & Spike Priggen.
Career
The Bats
In the early 1980s, Brion and musician/producer Bill Murphy began a writing collaboration in New Haven, Connecticut. They eventually enlisted bassist Don "Riff" Fertman and together formed the Bats (not to be confused with the New Zealand group or South African group of the same name). The Bats released a single, "Popgun", and one album, How Pop Can You Get?, on Gustav Records in 1982. The recordings had much critical acclaim, but little commercial success, and the trio eventually disbanded.
Session work
In 1987, Brion moved to Boston, where he played solo gigs, formed the short-lived band World's Fair and became a member of the last touring version of Aimee Mann's new wave band 'Til Tuesday. He contributed guitar work to Jellyfish's 1993 album Spilt Milk, and in 1994, joined Dan McCarroll, Buddy Judge and ex-Jellyfish guitarist Jason Falkner in the short-lived pop band the Grays. He also played guitar on the Wallflowers' hit song "One Headlight", using a screwdriver that was sitting atop a nearby amp as a slide. Brion played numerous instruments on Sam Phillips' 1996 release Omnipop. Brion is featured as keyboardist and drummer on Marianne Faithfull's 2003 album, Kissin Time, and co-wrote a song, "City of Quartz", for her next work, 2005's Before the Poison.
Production
After being recognized as an accomplished session player, Brion branched out into production on then-girlfriend Mann's 1993 solo debut, Whatever, and its follow-up, I'm With Stupid. He has also produced albums by Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainwright, Eleni Mandell, Rhett Miller, Robyn Hitchcock, Brad Mehldau and Evan Dando, and co-produced Kanye West's Late Registration in 2005.
In the fall of 2002, Brion began producing the album Extraordinary Machine with Fiona Apple, but she later brought in producers Mike Elizondo and Brian Kehew (a friend of Brion's) to complete the album. Brion's versions leaked onto the Internet, where the album gained a cult following long before its official release.
Brion worked and performed on some of the tracks for Sean Lennon's 2006 album Friendly Fire. Lennon said that working with him was "how I would imagine it's like to work with Prince. It's like having a weird alien prodigy in your room."
Brion has produced recordings by British pop performer Dido, Spoon, and Keane, as well as 2010's False Priest by Of Montreal. Brion also produced Best Coast's second album which was released in early 2012. Brion worked on rapper Mac Miller's album Swimming (2018), and completed production on Miller's posthumous album Circles (2020).
According to Stereogum, Brion's work on Aimee Mann's first solo albums "lay the groundwork for a sound that became synonymous with a strain of notable alternative acts at the turn of the century".
Meaningless
Brion was signed to the Lava/Atlantic label in 1997, but was released from his contract after turning in his solo debut album Meaningless; the album was released independently in 2001. In 2022, the album was remastered and re-released through Jealous Butcher Records, with Brion's approval.