Artist

Common Jack

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John Gardner is a singer-songwriter crafting cinematic indie folk under the name Common Jack. The project was born during a 2.5-year world tour with the Tony Award-winning Broadway show Once, when a backstage conversation with Glen Hansard at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles inspired Gardner to record the songs he'd been writing for years.

Known for his vivid storytelling and expressive vocals, Common Jack has amassed millions of streams, with Atwood Magazine describing his music as evoking “a road trip in an open top car, gliding with the hair blowing, eyes squinting in the sun, and bare arms stretched up high.”

Common Jack’s new album, It Would Be Enough, comes after Gardner took a hiatus from music after his record deal fell apart in the midst of multiple personal tragedies. Family deaths, estranged relationships, and career heartbreak inform every moment of the album. A short, snappy collection of songs, it’s a study in the messy gray areas of life; but rather than falling into the self-loathing and bitterness that hardship can lure us into, the album is full of sweeping indie folk and pop bops that reaffirm Gardner’s commitment to finding joy and self-awareness inside the pain.

The intimate lyrics are blended with thrilling arrangements to observe how the most beautiful things in life are usually bittersweet, temporary, and nuanced. And Gardner’s forceful lyricism, combined with his soaring falsetto, give every song a yearning ache.

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