Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong - 'Lonely Buoy'
I know that we're really not supposed to focus on band names, since we've been scolded for this by commenters before, but come on now. There comes a point where you're clearly just being silly, especially when a quick googling reveals that Joe Lean is not, indeed, the name the singer was born with. It's obviously just an attempt to make Fraser and me attempt to outdo each other with our best Dolly Parton impressions. (Fraser won, as if there was ever any doubt.) Add that to the slightly odd pun in the single title, and it just feels like too much wackiness in one go.
Right, I promise, I shall now evaluate the song on its own merits with no further mention of the artist's name or the song title unless strictly necessary, honest. Which is difficult, because I don't really know what to make of this. It's hyperactive in the way that early singles often are, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's quite hard to process what's going on because each lyrical thought is expressed and dismissed within a matter of seconds, and we just move right on to the next.
And the ones that do linger in the brain are the ones that sound slightly creepy out of context, such as "Sweat. Sweat on lips on lips on lips on sweat on back", which sounds like the sort of line you'd expect to hear more at a fringe theatre than in a pop song.
There's quite a sweet vulnerability to the song, though, and the non-sequiturs in the lyrics are surprisingly effective at evoking the mental gymnastics of romantic paranoia, assuming that's what they're aiming for. The band are obviously trying to carve out their own specific sound here, and I think they've done a pretty good job of it, but I get the sense that there's a great 3:30 pop song here being squeezed into an overly busy 2:40. Sometimes it's helpful to look at a song in terms of what the one sentence you would use to respond to it would be, and in this case mine would be along the lines of "yes, but CALM DOWN".
Not the song of song that I'd recommend for those who are easily overexcited, then, but there's definite potential here. If they can gradually replace the nervous energy with musical confidence, they could really be onto something.
Download: Out now
CD Released: February 18th
(Steve Perkins)
Comments
haha i love jolene - it's like the only dolly parton song i like
the songs alright; i think 3 stars is fair
x
this is better than lucio starts fires, but for some reason the audio on this video is real fast
i think this song is sooooooooo gurd!
ive seen joe lean twice b4 and am goin 2 c them agen on saturdaii
they are a gr8 band.. wen i went 2 c them at the charlotte in leicester joe lean spat water on me!!!!