The Jon Cohen Experimental is the name of a band, but it’s also a way of life for its founder and chief lab technician, Jonathan Cohen. That’s why the group’s moniker is still in use as the singer-songwriter undertakes his current solo tour of Western Canada and the United States—even though the music has a radically different sound than that found on his regular trio’s new album, Behold.

Creating a memorable identity is just part of the goal for the Montreal-based Cohen. The rest of the journey, as per a certain Mr. Hendrix, is more about the Experience.

“I really like travelling and I really like meeting people,” says the tall, bearded singer, during an easygoing visit to this writer’s home. “And music is one of the best ways of doing both those things. Essentially, it’s the vehicle for communicating my personality. There could be others. I’ve been writing quite a bit lately, updating my blog almost daily as I travel, finding my voice in another area, and keeping in touch with people. I want to take everyone with me on this road trip.”

Indeed, in the post-big-label era, recording artists are ever more dependent on social media to expand their networks.

“The closest analogy I can think of is going to a yoga class. There are a lot of them around—like Starbucks—and you choose one because you like a particular teacher. Music is like that.”

In the time of acts like, say, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, and Love—bands that have had considerable sonic influence on Cohen’s poetic, psychedelic-tinged originals—it made sense to let other people handle the business end of being rock stars.

“They used to outsource all those jobs,” Cohen says. “But now most musicians usually can’t afford to have other people take care of that. I am my own business—which is weird, in a way, because that is so antithetical to being an artist. I mean, these are very different skill sets.”

Case in point: if a real publicist were involved, Cohen and I probably would spend a lot less time playing Beatles songs in the basement. On the other hand, this gives a highly trained professional like me the chance to witness the ornate filigree this musician—who pulled instrumental duty in Quebec bands like the Dears and the Social Register before helming his own project—puts into the guitar, and the way he weaves it with his soft, airy vocals.

His main axe in the solo version of the JCEX, however, is the electric bass, which he plays in combination with various drum pads and keyboard tracks, all coordinated live through looping pedals and MIDI controllers.

“It really is experimental,” declares Cohen, coming up for air. “I’m a work in progress, and I’ll be interested to see what I do next.”

The Jon Cohen Experimental performs at the Railway Club next Thursday (February 17), at Burnaby’s Great Bear Pub on February 18, and at Cafe Deux Soleils on February 27.