Jockstrap on Their Strange and Wonderful Debut, I Love You Jennifer B
The post Jockstrap on Their Strange and Wonderful Debut, I Love You Jennifer B appeared first on Consequence.
British weirdo-dance duo Jockstrap will release their hotly-anticipated debut album, I Love You Jennifer B, on Friday, September 9th. Following a string of successful EPs and singles, Taylor Skye and Georgia Ellery (also of Black Country, New Road) have wrangled together three years’ worth of songs and squeezed them into an eclectic, unpredictable, surprisingly cohesive LP.
“It was never going to be straightforward, making a Jockstrap album,” Ellery tells Consequence. “Because everything is so different, all the songs. I think on EPs, it allows for that, maybe, because it’s just like a little taster. But we’ve made it work for an album. It’s different. And we’ve said in interviews, it’s a bit like a compilation album. But we’re kind of fine with that, you know?”
From the onset of the record, Jockstrap’s unbridled idiosyncrasies are on display. Take album opener “Neon,” which starts as a slow, acoustic ballad backed by a subtle sample of bustling wind before Skye’s off-kilter production takes over without warning. The remainder of the song swings like a pendulum between the sweetness of Ellery’s vocals and a cacophony of Skye’s design, climaxing in a distorted, shockingly melodic explosion of sonics.
It’s a perfect introduction to Jockstrap and what they seek to accomplish on I Love You Jennifer B, and it doesn’t nearly scratch the surface of uncanny timbres, wild structures, and beautiful resolutions found throughout the rest of the record.
Though each is different in its execution, every song on I Love You Jennifer B exhibits a consistent ethos, one of excitement, originality, and experimentation. The 10 tracks are pop songs at heart, but they’re chopped and rearranged. It’s as if the duo is playing with sonic Play-Doh, but instead of squeezing the clay through a faux spaghetti maker for a neon dinner, Ellery and Skye craft cubist sculptures. It’s abstract art built from an innocent, playful foundation.
This isn’t to say that Jockstrap’s wonderfully strange creations are overly heady or academic. Sure, the two are trained, well-studied musicians, but they haven’t lost their love for the visceral fun of dance music. Even if their Play-Doh songs defy easy categorization, they’re still made of Play-Doh all the same.
“You want something that someone actually wants to listen to,” Skye explains. “I think I want people to not have to try incredibly hard to listen to music… it’s quite nice to not be too subtle when [the music is] not asking to be too subtle.”
The result is an album composed of mangled bangers, compositions that seek to tap into the same appeal of chart-topping hits before hiding that appeal within a labyrinth of experimentation. “I think the banger thing is something that we definitely hold to very high esteem,” Ellery says of Jockstrap’s goals. “Like, how ABBA can write a full album of bangers. That’s pretty cool!”
And while I Love You Jennifer B will likely never be the basis for a Jockstrap musical à la Mamma Mia!, to a certain audience of music fans who obsess over both ABBA and Oneohtrix Point Never, songs like “Glasgow” might just be their new “Dancing Queen.”
Listen to Jockstrap’s I Love You Jennifer B below, followed by an interview with Ellery and Skye. Jockstrap are also set to embark on their first American tour later this year; you can pick up tickets via Ticketmaster.
This record collects songs you guys have been working on for a number of years. Given how much tastes can change in that amount of time, can you tell a difference between the songs written earliest and those from later on?
Georgia Ellery: We definitely went through lots of tastes, didn’t we? Because you’re right, it does change a lot.
Taylor Skye: I think, for me, “Concrete Over Water” was definitely a song that makes sense that we did it [when we did]. I don’t think if I produced something like that, just the way things change. I think my brain isn’t in that mode now.
Ellery: Maybe we mellowed out towards the end? I don’t know.
Taylor: Yeah, I think I’ve become slightly less hyped by huge, big drops. In the beginning, we were into that.
Ellery: It’s kind of chronological. Kind of… they wanted us to put “Glasgow” at the beginning. But we were like, no. It was written later. It doesn’t feel like the beginning. “Neon” was one of the first things where we kind of were like, “Okay, right, well, we’re writing the album now.” And we went into the studio to work together really early on for that.
It’s interesting that it’s in kind of a chronological order. Was that intentional or just a happy accident?
Taylor: I mean, it’s not really strictly in chronological order. It was also the order that the songs work best in, we thought, when you listen to the whole thing. And we sort of went for like, looking at it as a classic album that you’d have on vinyl. Maybe because we often like to disregard certain limitations, having something to grapple on to to figure out how to make something work helped us.
Ellery: It was never going to be straightforward, making a Jockstrap album, because everything is so different, all the songs. I think on EPs, it allows for that, maybe, because it’s just like a little taster. But we’ve made it work for an album. It’s different. And we’ve said in interviews, it’s a bit like a compilation album. But we’re kind of fine with that, you know?
Given the way this album came into being, were there any songs left on the cutting room floor?
Taylor: Not really.
Ellery: We did have the luxury of being able to listen to the songs that we’d recorded and then axe some for the full project. Just to say what we wanted to say. So we did that and that was good, because usually we didn’t have any surplus at all.
Taylor: And the rest is just gonna come out, probably. And it wasn’t a lot. I mean, we never have much extras, we have always just–
Ellery: –Paved the way with what we’ve got. And made it work somehow. Really, we do. We are quite committed to things, even if it’s tricky. We’re like, “Where the fuck do we go from here?” We stick at it.
Taylor, you’re quoted in the press release saying you hope there’s a banger on I Love You Jennifer B for everyone. Is that a driving force for Jockstrap — to make a variety of bangers?
Skye: I just think that is something that really satisfies me. You want something that someone actually wants to listen to, that sort of thing. I think I want people to not have to try incredibly hard to listen to music. So, I think that’s what we’re aiming for. I mean, to someone on the street, none of them are bangers, really. But, yeah, I like the drama. I think Georgia’s songs lend themselves to often melodramatic and dramatic sound worlds.
I think often it’s all to do with the songwriting. I often feel like I’m reacting to how I feel the song should be, and I do think that George’s writing is very colorful and specific and poignant. So, you want to pull that out of it. It’s quite nice to not be too subtle when it’s not asking to be too subtle.
Ellery: I think the banger thing is something that we definitely hold to very high esteem. Like, how ABBA can write a full album of bangers. That’s pretty cool! So I think we had a go ourselves at trying to make every song as good as it can be.
You mention that for the person on the street, none of them are bangers. What kind of community and surroundings do you think Jockstrap songs lend themselves to? A concert hall? An alternative club? A solo-listening session?
Ellery: That’s a really good question…
Skye: For me, I think I can listen to it the way I grew up listening to music: on my headphones or on my speakers. I think that feels right. I think [our music] is too specific for the best place for it to be heard is a club or, like, in a venue. With friends is good, but I think there are quite a lot of conversations going on within the music. It feels like it’s not lonely. You wouldn’t listen to it and feel lonely, because the music is quite specific to us. I feel like everyone will react differently to it.
If you listen to it with lots of other people, you’re not necessarily going to have this sort of symbiotic reaction where you’re feeling the same thing, whereas you might do with other music. So you may as well listen to it by yourself, and then you don’t have to worry about that.
You guys had an interesting experience where you’ve already accrued a sizable fanbase before the release of your debut album. Did that add any pressure? Did you feel like there were heightened expectations?
Ellery: I think all the fans and all the following we’d got was really a support and a blanket. I think the real pressure that I’ve faced personally was myself. I was just totally fucked over for myself in some ways, as one does. But I think I got over that. We couldn’t have asked for a better build up, I think. It went really well with our EPs, they sort of laid our foundation musically. I think we took from that. And hopefully we’ve created our own world that people got to know, because it’s quite different, I guess, from other music — which is a good thing! But I think people are palatable for it now. That’s my experience.
Georgia, you’re also in Black Country, New Road, another acclaimed British band that had a somewhat similar trajectory. How has the experience of the bands differed?
Ellery: It’s definitely been different. I guess there’s just more people in Black Country, New Road. More people to take the way. Also, things just like roll with that band. I don’t know. There’s just like all wheel rolling and you’re on it. So, yeah, different. I put a lot of work into this one. Different sorts, you know. We do the visuals here. We do the artwork. We’re totally involved in every single decision down to touring schedules. So, yeah, it’s different.
Speaking of the visuals, Taylor, I found an old interview where you mention being unenthusiastic about the visual side of your music. It was interesting to me because Jockstrap’s visuals are so striking. So, I was wondering if there’s been a change of heart? Or if it’s all been Georgia’s doing? Or maybe that’s just the Jockstrap way?
Skye: I think it’s a bit of all of that, really. I’m a bit naturally drawn to focus on one thing. Like, I love watching films and I love all of that stuff. So, I’m really into that. But, yeah, Georgia took control of the “Concrete Over Water” video and has been helming the album visuals and all that sort of stuff. Because when Georgia writes the songs, that’s usually what you draw from when you think about the visuals, like the lyrical ideas. And her ideas are quite instinctive and I like them. With the “Glasgow” one, we sort of talked about it together.
That [interview] was like four or five years ago, and I am a bit cynical in general. I’m a bit, like, suspicious. I think a lot of music relies on the visuals over the music, and I’m not really interested in that. For me, it’s also a great way to sell. If it’s going to help promote the music, then that’s great. It’s all too fluid, really, to say one thing is good, one thing is bad, you know? But it’s worked for us.
Regarding your ideas, Georgia, I have to ask, where does “Jennifer B” come from?
Ellery: Um, so Jennifer B, is someone… from a movie. A really small part in a movie. Track it down, because no one has been able to track it down.
Following the album’s release, you guys will be hitting the states for the first time. How do you anticipate American audiences will react to Jockstrap?
Ellery: You tell us! What are American audiences like? Because we have no frame of reference.
Well, they can definitely be boisterous, enthusiastic. Quick to mosh, I’m not sure if you guys have inspired much moshing in the UK?
Skye: A bit. Not really, to be honest. They’ve been pretty tame a lot of the time. Some shows have been a bit moving, but yeah.
Ellery: Some shows have had a bit of moshing. Sometimes we get some moshing at the end of “The City.”
Skye: Sometimes, yeah. We’ve not been to America. We’ve been for like, a few days, last month. That was the first time. I’ve not met many American people in general.
Ellery: I hope they like it! I hope they go crazy!
Skye: In America, there are quite a lot of people that listen to our music. When we went on tour with Injury Reserve, that might have helped to expose ourselves to American people a bit more.
It will be cool because we’ll be playing smaller shows. So, it’ll be an interesting experience to go and be playing gigs that we probably played like a few years ago when we’re trying to build an audience [in the UK.] So, it will be fun to play and see who turns up. I reckon when our album comes out, that will give them all the notice they need.
Any plans for Jockstrap once you guys get through the release cycle and the tour?
Ellery: The world’s our oyster. Don’t know…
Skye: Don’t know… See how tour goes.
Ellery: Yeah, see how the American tour goes. Then we’ll reassess afterwards. [Laughs]
Skye: We always just need to get through tour, and then we can move forward in our lives afterwards. We’ll go to Australia, probably, at some point. Get through that. Christmas time. My birthday. My birthday is in February.
Ellery: Yep, I’ve got birthdays as well. Katie has a birthday.
Skye: So, We’ll have to keep you updated about that.
I Love You Jennifer B Artwork:
Jockstrap on Their Strange and Wonderful Debut, I Love You Jennifer B
Jonah Krueger
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