John & Jehn continued
In this week of French people singing in English, here’s a couple more. Unlike Sebastian Tellier though, John and Jehn have actually made their home in London and they’re very very unlikely to ever be asked to represent their country at Eurovision. Not if they insist on playing their lo-fi Velvets-inspired art rock anyway.
The album is split into two sides (this is obviously just about making a point on a CD though) – a ‘John side’ and a ‘Jehn side’. I don’t know if this is because they’ve written the songs for their respective sides, or if it’s meant to represent something more profound. All I know is that the Jehn side (tracks 6-10) is better, with more in the way of tunes, and the fuzzy guitars, cheap keyboards and boy-girl vocals just tend to work more effectively here. It’s like after messing about for five tracks, it begins to come together. So there are pleasures to be had on this record for sure, aside from 20 L 07, most notably You, Far Away and 1,2,3, but as a whole it could easily be accused of style over substance.
Download: John & Jehn – You, Far Away
Download: John & Jehn – 1,2,3
Buy John & Jehn from Rough Trade.
1saam keephopeinside
wrote on 19 April 2008 at 18:13
i guess their PR got back to you then? i enthusiastically responded to an email about hearing the album only to be met with stone cold silence. ouch. although sounds like i haven’t missed out on too much!
2The Daily Growl
wrote on 20 April 2008 at 22:45
Erm yes. I tried not to diss this too much, because there’s actually quite a lot I like about it, but it just lacks that killer touch for me, I think…
3saam
wrote on 21 April 2008 at 1:31
Seems like you were quite fair!