Open your eyes to Blinker the Star

While it undoubtedly comes across loud and clear in this episode, allow me to offer full disclosure: I am a huge fan of Jordon Zadorozny.

His first record as Blinker the Star set the bar high for so-called low-fi music. Those songs are heavy, ethereal, melancholic; brash and youthful, showing a nascent pop genius.

The music business, at this point blindly groping all around for more Nirvanas, showed rare (perhaps accidental?) good taste for the time and got into the Blinker the Star business. Another peerless rock album album followed (A Bourgeois Kitten), then an absolute pop masterpiece (August Everywhere). Sales were not to expectation.

Zadorozny headed back to Pembroke at that point; home to record what would be his final major label bow: Still in Rome. It’s brilliant; loud and brash, while ending on an atypically hopeful note featuring a cameo from no less than Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. And then, Blinker the Star blinked out.

Its creator was not idle over the next nine years; he just wasn’t using the name. Then, the time was seemingly right again and Zadorozny, now a well-respected producer to boot, is on the cusp of releasing the third Blinker album in as many years.

Zadorozny remains this country’s most bafflingly overlooked musical resource. “It’s music,” he told me during our conversation. “Not fashion.” If only we lived in that world. I hope you’ll enjoy meeting Blinker the Star. And Jordon Zadorozny.