A nuanced album rises to the surface.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

Dan Jones could have been done with his latest release long before now, but the Eugene pop-rock artist deep-sixed most of the songs from an early 2002 recording session and went back into the studio several months later, searching for something he felt had eluded him.

"I wanted the unknown to be part of my vision," Jones said. "I had the feeling that I was getting into what I wanted to do, but I had a definite sense that I would not be able to still go into the unknown."

Jones' search for the X-factor resulted in "One Man Submarine," an album that is arguably richer, more nuanced and more mature than the straight-ahead songs he recorded during his first session at Eugene's Gung Ho Studio.

Heavy on guitars and seasoned with Midwestern innocence, the album walks a line between Jones' two main (and sometimes competing) influences, folk-rock and punk-rock. A reviewer for Kool Kat Musik, an online record store that recently started carrying the album, put it this way: "lotsa lotsa guitars, hooks galore and a nice mix of uptempo and slower tunes."

Jones officially will unveil his new album today at a CD release party sponsored by Leisure King Records, the homegrown pop imprint run by Scott McLean and his wife, Annabelle Garcia McLean, daughter of the late Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia. The small label made its debut roughly a year ago; "One Man's Submarine" is its second release.

The fact that Kool Kat Musik already has picked up Jones' new album, based only on word of mouth, may be a sign that his intentionally cloudy vision will pay off. The record, which has been available around town for weeks, has been getting local airplay, and McLean reports steady sales at the Leisure King Records Web site.

"So many little efforts over the last three or four years have added up to something special," Jones said.

Jones, 33, got into the rock game relatively late. A custom window frame maker with a literature degree, he settled in Eugene after growing up in the Midwest.

His debut album, "For Your Radio," was a shaggy, do-it-yourself, folk-rock project that was recorded in six hours one Saturday at a local recording studio.

Nevertheless, the record, which Jones describes as a nostalgic song cycle, highlighted his knack for crafting vivid stories and catchy melodies and caught the attention of more than one record label.

In contrast, Jones describes "One Man Submarine" as an album about late 20s loneliness. The record is cozy like an old pair of sneakers in one moment (`Walkin' Blue") and as noisy as a chain saw the next (`My Banana"). "Death's Head Bar" is a vivid scene-setter, "Sweet Sophia" surges with bright nostalgia, and the title track is the album's jangling centerpiece.

"Somebody pointed out that a one-man submarine is something that relies on support from above so that it can journey down into the deep," Jones said. "There's claustrophobia and there's adventure and there's risk and there's beauty and kind of this Piscean nautical stuff in it."

While making "One Man Submarine," Jones tapped the talents of nearly a dozen different local musicians, including guitarist Ed Cole (Activator), drummer Jivan Valpey (Pass Out Kings) and recording engineer/bassist Bill Barnett.

McLean, who gets a tambourine credit on at least one song, said Jones constantly searches for musicians who can anticipate the next beat.

"I don't think that it's pickiness," McLean said. "It's just that he likes to work with people who, this is going to sound way too hippie, but people who sense the vibe of what to do. ... He really is a vibey kind of guy."

Bass player Dave Snider and drummer Eric Jensen make up Jones' current house band, the Squids. The trio collaborated on only five of the 12 tracks on the new album, but they will play a more vital role when Jones takes his show on the road this spring.

Jensen's contribution to "One Man Submarine" involved alternating between a pair of different drum sets. He used an cheaper Japanese set from the 1970s to enhance the garage-rock factor on some of the noisier songs and a fine vintage set to add more precise rhythm to the more delicate tunes.

Jensen, who played with Jones in the rock band Activator, said the trio was united in its approach to music.

"His songs are kind of innocent and lighthearted, and that's kind of how my drumming is, too,' Jensen said. "There's not a lot of pretension.

`Pretense isn't something I'm going for. I don't think he is either. ... I think he and I are both on the same page as far as creative goals go - making music we can be happy with, and really just trying to sum something up as clearly as possible."

PREVIEW

Dan Jones CD release party with Tom Heinl and Ed Cole and the College Girls of Tora Bora 

When: 9 p.m. today

Where: Wild Duck, 169 W. Sixth Ave.

How much: $5

GuardLine: To hear music by Dan Jones, call GuardLine at 485-2000 from a touch-tone phone and request category 9942

Lewis Taylor can be reached at 338-2512 or [e-mail].

CAPTION(S):

Dan Jones and the Squids will perform songs from their new CD, `One Man Submarine,' tonight at the Wild Duck.