07 10

Jockstrap I Love You Jennifer B Rough Trade Records

09.09.22

Jockstrap. That memorable yet crude band name has always seemed like a gleeful misdirection for a band whose ethereal chamber pop collides with electronic chaos. But this wrongfooting makes complete sense – it’s how members Taylor Skye and Georgia Ellery excel at being both relatable and innovative at once, creating a sound that is entirely theirs.

It’s what makes their debut album, I Love You Jennifer B, so enjoyable. On Glasgow, the band deftly straddle pop, off-kilter electronic music and sweeping ballads; the track beginning with wonky harp plucks before finding its groove among Ellery’s soaring vocals. Debra is a tender ballad sung from the perspective of an Animal Crossing avatar, punctuated by bursts of discordant synths. The shimmering What’s It All About? reveals their most straightforward songwriting to date, as gentle strings swirl around acoustic guitar strums, invoking 70s pop balladry. Album closer 50/50 is a dubstep-indebted wobbler that has already found its way to dancefloors. This disregard for convention is what makes I Love You Jennifer B stand out from the unimaginative dross – an album that is restlessly inventive yet remains familiar and intimate, drawing you closer into its bright world.