A DIY INDIEPOP VINYL & CASSETTE LABEL

Winter Sprinter 2020: Sat 11th Jan: The Ballet + Keel Her + Mr Ben & The Bens

Fika Recordings proudly presents the return of annual Winter Sprinter!

Limited 4 day passes available from We Got Tickets - all super early and early bird passes now sold out.
Day tickets from We Got Tickets or from Dice.

Facebook event here.

THE BALLET

Queer New York duo the Ballet marry the DIY ethos of the Hidden Cameras with the wry poeticism of the Magnetic Fields and the romantic pop of Jens Lekman, to create literate, infectious pop gems. In addition to citing Stephin Merritt as an influence, Goldberg, who writes and home records all of the band’s songs, draws from an array of pop artists and periods, from 60’s bubblegum to 80’s synthpop and 90’s indiepop, fusing these in sophisticated and novel ways that reward repeat listening.

“The music is so lovely, all dewy guitars and dripping synth bells, that it makes you understand the appeal of intertwining with someone who doesn’t necessarily respect you.” Pitchfork

KEEL HER

Keel Her is the musical recording project of Rose Keeler-Schaffeler, from Winchester (UK). She began writing and recording "bedroom" music in 2007 for therapeutic reasons,[1] and has continued this as part of her daily routine since. As a child, Rose learnt the violin, but is largely a self-taught musician; she plays guitar, bass, keyboards and sings. Rose has described her writing process as being like a "stream of consciousness".

”Keel Her’s caustic sense of humour shines through on even its darkest moments” Loud and Quiet

MR BEN & THE BENS

Born as a recording project in a barn in Lancashire in 2012, Ben Hall recorded and self released 7 albums under Mr Ben. Now a complete outfit Mr Ben & the Bens sound like they were baptised in water from the church of indie classics, the songs of the Lancaster Polymath echo Belle & Sebastian, Teleman, Gorkys Zygotic Mynci and a bit of Bill Ryder-Jones his genuinely great modern songwriting.

Winter Sprinter 2020: Fri 10th Jan: The Just Joans + Seazoo + Fortitude Valley

Fika Recordings proudly presents the return of annual Winter Sprinter!

Limited 4 day passes available from We Got Tickets - all super early and early bird passes now sold out.
Day tickets from We Got Tickets or from Dice.

Facebook event here.

THE JUST JOANS

Acerbic yet winsome Scottish indiepoppers The Just Joans return to London to celebrate the launch of their dazzlingly maudlin new album The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans.

”The Just Joans have documented the romantic pratfalls of a generation of indie kids with a sardonic wit and a shambling musical style where Stephin Merritt lies down with The Vaselines” Uncut

SEAZOO

Quirky and masterful in equal measure, Welsh noise-pop experts Seazoo channel the American indie rock of Pavement and Grandaddy with the off-kilter, wonky pop of fellow Welsh natives Super Furry Animals.

”Music doesn’t have to take itself too seriously to be valuable; in fact it's Seazoo's enthusiastic attitude that really elevates into more than a piece of throw-away indie pop.”

FORTITUDE VALLEY

Fortitude Valley is a brand new project for the songwriting talents of Durham based Brisbanite Laura Kovic. Having spent the majority of her musical career playing keyboards in other people’s bands, bringing their songs to life with a melodic flourish, it was about time for Laura K to find an outlet for her songs: awkward power-pop that’s bound to appeal to fans of The Beths, Weezer or The Pixies. She’s assembled quite the band too: Martha’s Daniel Ellis on lead guitar and Nathan Stephens Griffin on drums, and Night Flowers’ Greg Ullyart on bass.

The Just Joans - The Private Memoirs and Confessions of The Just Joans [12"/CD]

Artist: The Just Joans
Title: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of The Just Joans
Format: 12" album on black vinyl with lyrics insert | CD in digifile sleeve
Cat#: Fika077LP | Fika077CD
Release date: 10th January 2020
Bandcamp | Spotify

 Acerbic yet winsome Scottish indiepoppers The Just Joans return with the dazzlingly maudlin The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans, a deeply personal collection of songs that hazily recall the past and contemplate the futility of the future. 

A titular twist on the classic gothic horror novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by compatriot James Hogg, the new album is the follow-up to 2017’s You Might Be Smiling Now… and contains the kind of melodies and mockery that led Uncut to class the band as the point at which “Stephin Merritt lies down with The Vaselines.”

At the forefront remain the mischievous lyrics and heartfelt vocals of siblings David and Katie Pope, aided and abetted by Chris Elkin on lead guitar, Fraser Ford on bass guitar and Jason Sweeney on drums. Yet it is the recruitment of multi-instrumentalist Arion Xenos and guest appearance of Butcher Boy’s Alison Eales to arrange strings that have helped elevate the band’s music to new heights. 

Their progression is most noticeable on lead single “Dear Diary, I Died Again today”, a painfully beautiful admission of everyday anxiety and “When Nietzsche Calls”, the triumphant cry of a spurned lover revelling in the misery of their ex to a backdrop of trumpets and violins. The juxtaposition of the fragility shown in these tracks with the menace of “Wee Guys (Bobby’s Got A Punctured Lung)” – an observation and understanding of the casual violence that once cast a shadow over the band’s hometown – highlights The Just Joans’ ability to seamlessly flip between sensitivity and danger, and sums up why Highway Queens described them as the “perfect Glasgow kiss.”

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans is a veritable smorgasbord of misery, longing and unrequited love; stories of small town resentments, half-forgotten school friends, failing relationships and awkward workplace conversations. As David explains: “It’s a collection torn from the pages of the diary I haven’t kept over the past 25 years. There are songs about places and people I vaguely remember, feelings I think that I once may have felt and the onset of middle-aged ennui.”

Despite entering new territory with the addition of brass and strings, they have nevertheless maintained the DIY ethos that made them darlings of the underground indie-pop scene, with each song on the album recorded and produced by the band in various gloomy bedrooms around Glasgow.

“Siblings David and Katie Pope have been cranking out charmingly shambolic, twee-leaning but feisty indiepop since the mid-’00s and their biting sense of humor (and thick Glaswegian accents) make for easy comparisons to The Vaselines.” Brooklyn Vegan

“there’s mischief in this miserablism” Mojo [4/5]

“the album fits into a Scottish indie tradition that goes back to BMX Bandits and The Vaselines. Like them, The Just Joans have mastered the art of writing sad songs that are funny and consoling rather than just plain depressing” Record Collector [3/5]

“enjoy the ear-pleasing rotation of boppy and bittersweet tunes” All Music [8/10]

“Another brilliant showcase for their idiosyncratic music and lyrics. Poets of the mundane, The Just Joans are in danger of becoming something of a British institution.” The Morning Star [4/5]

“this is the first best album of 2020” Narc [5/5]

“another wonderfully forlorn and cynical set of world-weary tales from sulky Glasgow siblings David and Katie Pope” Scottish Express [4/5]

“Memoirs is a charmingly introspective record; fun and thoughtful. The Just Joans are  miserablist chroniclers, always looking about, wide-eyed, finding inspiration in the mundane, and delivering with a mischievous wink. They’re already something of a cult band, and this record further seals that status” Music OMH [4/5]

“this blend of the heartfelt and the comically morose sees The Just Joans indulge in a fine tradition of tuneful Scottish miserabilism that is distinctly our own, and might be doing it better than anyone else around at the minute” The Wee Review [4/5]

“The Private Memoirs and Confessions of The Just Joans, out this month, retains their love for the acidic indie-cabaret of the genre’s acknowledged master Stephin Merritt while presenting their strongest, most accomplished songs yet.” The National Scotland

“the wit and humour here is at the highest level of ironic commentary and makes this a lot of fun” Vanguard Online

“a sparklingly dark-humoured record of people, places and half-memories from songwriter David Pope” God Is In The TV

“For a band whose lifespan now stretches to four albums, it’s impressive that the cynicism, the bitterness and, most damning of all, the optimism of life as an outsider are still felt as strongly. It may say more about this writer’s age than the album, but there’s something reassuring about knowing you’re not the only one having a tough time and The Just Joans capture that feeling just so.” Get In Her Ears

“this latest album from the Joans is more sublime heartache with many twists of black humour” Is This Music

“a dizzyingly fun pop record about impossibly bleak truths” Balloon Machine

“The Just Joans delivering exactly the sort of thing that this slightly older type of indie-pop excels at, namely achieving a good balance between the onset cynicism that comes with age and the band’s own Scottish heritage, and the smatterings of humour and lightness to temper it and keep anything too bleak at bay” Soundboard

“The Just Joans are indeed writing big pop tunes here, despite the droll lyrics, and the sly heart-on-the-sleeve fake-outs going on in nearly every cut. For that reason, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of The Just Joans is highly recommended for fans of C86 stuff, to anyone who thought Jarvis Cocker or Stephin Merritt wrote great songs. You're likely to take these to heart in the same way” A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed

“sardonic, humorous, self-deprecating, bittersweet, and eminently clever” When You Motor Away

“Walking the line between poignant and sardonic, and with a dark humour that lifts them above most others, the songs are comparable to The Wedding Present, early Pulp, Ballboy, or The Delgados, but they sound like no-one else but The Just Joans, and to have such a strong identity is rare.” Scots Whay Hae

“the ramshackle of C86 and the slightest of jangly lo-fi and timid retro keys to sound like The Pastels lying down with The Vaselines” Jangle Pop Hub

“very much in the spirit of Philip Larkin, Mike Leigh, Alan Bennett, Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker if they had been born North of the border” It Starts With A Birthstone

“If The Beautiful South and Kirsty MacColl made a pact to form a band that fans of the Proclaimers might turn to on a dark and dismal night in December, they may well have created The Just Joans.  Their perfectly constructed, quietly uncomplicated melodies probe the darker side of love, and like melodic Valium, rock you into a state of unruffled languor.” JoyZine

Winter Sprinter 2020: Thur 9th Jan: Mammoth Penguins + Broken Chanter + Adults

Fika Recordings proudly presents the return of annual Winter Sprinter!

Limited 4 day passes available from We Got Tickets - all super early and early bird passes now sold out.
Day tickets from We Got Tickets or from Dice.

Facebook event here.

MAMMOTH PENGUINS

For the uninitiated, Mammoth Penguins are a 3-piece indie pop powerhouse, showcasing the songwriting and vocal talents of Emma Kupa (Standard Fare, The Hayman Kupa Band) backed up by the noisiest rhythm section in indie pop.

”one of the finest examples of simple and true indie rock around” All Music [8/10]

BROKEN CHANTER

Broken Chanter is the adopted name of David MacGregor. MacGregor spent the past decade as the principal songwriter of Scottish Alt-Pop darlings Kid Canaveral - a band that could get you to dance, laugh, and weep all in the space of a set. The first Broken Chanter album is a record which paints an emotional and expansive soundscape with a distinct sense of place, that showcases MacGregor's ear for melody and dexterity at tugging heart-strings.

”MacGregor’s writing bares the mark of maturity that comes with age whilst possessing the same vitality as his earlier work with Kid Canaveral” The Skinny

ADULTS

Adults started out in 1996 as runners up on the short-lived channel 4 talent show Voices Of A Generation. Despite securing a record £6 million contract with Simon Fuller, their debut single failed to chart and their UK tour was brought to an abrupt halt when Alycia didn't turn up to the opening night in Preston. Amid rumours of internal fighting, drug problems and accusations of bullying, one-by-one the founding members quit and were replaced first by Mutya and Heidi, then Tom and finally, former-child actor Joely. Relaunched in 2003 the new-look band saw a surge in popularity, no doubt helped by a certain high-profile relationship with a first division footballer, and their cover of Smash Hits remains the best selling edition of the 00s. But it wasn't until Tom came out of his stint in rehab and Joe, Dan and Marcelo were recruited that the band really found its niche. Having wiped all evidence of their past from the Internet (although a grainy video of their 1996 audition tape is still up on vimeo) the group are now most often found in back rooms of pubs in the southeast London area, proving themselves to be, without a doubt, the hardest working popstars in the business.

Winter Sprinter 2020: Wed 8th Jan: Holly Macve + The Hanging Stars + Portland Brothers

Fika Recordings proudly presents the return of annual Winter Sprinter!

Limited 4 day passes available from We Got Tickets - all super early and early bird passes now sold out.
Day tickets from We Got Tickets or from Dice.

Facebook event here.

HOLLY MACVE

A heavenly voice couched in spellbinding country & western ballads, with a devastating emotional delivery - we're delighted to have Holly Macve headline the opening night of The Winter Sprinter.

“Exquisite… Her voice echoes the Appalachian-tinged old-timers Patsy Cline and Kitty Wells, all framed by the pared-down boniness of Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash and Gillian Welch.” MOJO

THE HANGING STARS

Blending folk pastoralism with swampy 60s Americana, The Hanging Stars sound like the missing link between the California desert sun and the grey skies of London Town. The Hanging Stars place themselves firmly as part of a long folk tradition encompassing European and North American influences – as a continuation rather than a pastiche of these styles.

”a hazy, desert-dream of a song, nicely sharpened with steely-eyed guitars, Mersey-laced harmonies and just a whiff of the Gun Club” Guardian"

PORTLAND BROTHERS

Steven Adams (The Broken Family Band) and Timothy Victor (The Folk Orchestra) first met in the summer of 2001, in the Portland Arms, Cambridge. The two became good friends, and TV went on to produce the first two Broken Family Band albums, as well as becoming an unofficial fifth member of the group. Portland Brothers sees them sharing songwriting and singing, consciously revisiting some of the influences that brought them together in the first place.

”very good indeed” Americana UK

Withered Hand - Ten Years [10"]

Artist: Withered Hand
Title: Ten Years
Format: 10” EP
Cat#: Fika078
Release date: 20th December 2019
Bandcamp
[Split release with WIAIWYA: WIAEP82]

Dan Willson, aka Withered Hand, releases four string-backed re-recordings of tunes from his first album, Good News, on London labels wiaiwya and Fika Recordings.

The Springsteen of self-deprecation celebrates the tenth anniversary of his debut long player by re-working four of the album’s finest tunes. They were handed over to Pete Harvey (who was involved in the genesis of the original recordings) to re-arrange, lovely new string sections were recorded, and Willson re-sang his vocals – effortlessly moving the anti-folk classics towards anti-chamber pop.

I Am Nothing - So i'll try to see the world in your way, The pillow's warm from where your head lay
No Cigarettes - Maestro a drum roll please, This is the golden age
New Dawn - And she said "I used to be beautiful, And now I'm barely pushing plain", Someday you'll be beautiful again
Religious Songs - You stole my heart and I stole your underwear

Based in Edinburgh, Scottish indie folk-pop act Withered Hand is the solo project of singer/songwriter Dan Willson. A veteran of multiple bands in late-'90s and early-2000s Edinburgh music scene, Willson began his solo career after receiving an acoustic guitar from his wife as a 30th birthday gift. Migrating slowly from bandmate to solo artist, he began singing and writing his own loose, jangly songs, eventually releasing his debut EP, Religious Songs, under the moniker Withered Hand. Finding immediate success with the new format, Willson released a second EP in 2009 before teaming up with legendary American producer Kramer to make his first full-length album, Good News, in 2010. With his ragged tenor and often lo-fi, acoustic-based sound, Willson has come to represent a certain standard in the U.K. D.I.Y. scene and was a part of the Fife-based Fence Collective with acts like King Creosote and James Yorkston. Two more Withered Hand EPs appeared in 2012 before Willson returned to the studio to record his follow-up LP. His second full-length, New Gods, was released in early 2014 by Fortuna Pop and Slumberland. The record was produced by Tony Doogan (Mountain Goats, Belle and Sebastian) and features help from Black Tambourine's Pam Berry, Eugene Kelly of the Vaselines, and members of Belle and Sebastian and Frightened Rabbit.

Withered Hand - Ten Years merch.jpg

“The world is better for songwriters like Willson” – The Scotsman

“A refreshing lager beer of a record” – Julian Cope

“Willson is a one-man Fleet Foxes with a voice that, one moment, sounds on the brink of collapse; the next, is filled with humour, emotion and self-knowledge” – The Herald

“Thank fuck for Withered Hand” – Malcolm Middleton

“Willson’s quavering vocals and acoustic eulogies elicit heavy-hitters Bright Eyes (on woebegone porch-swing opener ‘Providence’) – and even Neil Young at times.” – The List

“at times on this impressive debut Dan Willson’s alter ego attains the celestial lustre of that holy grail of lapsed evangelical folk nouveau, the first Palace Brothers album.” – MOJO

“Bummed-out folk with the saddest, most beautiful wistful sparkly banjo jams and the most hilarious, and yet totally heart-melting, lyrics ever, sung with a grizzled UK croak that’s hard not to love.” – WVKR radio, New York

“Killer melodies… wobbly folk grooves…as melodic wimps go, he’s up there with fellow Scots Belle and Sebastian; his tunes full of warm, woozy singsong charm” – Rolling Stone Magazine

THE Just Joans - Wee Guys (Bobby's Got a Punctured Lung) [Digital]

Artist: The Just Joans
Title: Wee Guys (Bobby’s Got a Punctured Lung)
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika077SG3
Release date: 13th December 2019
Bandcamp | Spotify

Gloomy Glaswegians The Just Joans announce their new album The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans, due out on 11 January via Fika Recordings, by sharing the first single "Dear Diary, I Died Again Today". This painfully beautiful admission of everyday anxiety explores the trauma of awkward conversations with colleagues and vague acquaintances. With a different spin to their usual jangle pop, the inclusion of strings, arranged by Butcher Boy’s Alison Eales, create a dazzlingly maudlin depth to the track.

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans is a deeply personal collection of songs that hazily recall the past and contemplate the futility of the future. At the forefront remain the mischievous lyrics and heartfelt vocals of siblings David and Katie Pope, aided and abetted by Chris Elkin on lead guitar, Fraser Ford on bass guitar, Arion Xenos on keyboards and Jason Sweeney on drums.

A titular twist on the classic gothic horror novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by compatriot James Hogg, the new album is the follow-up to 2017’s You Might Be Smiling Now… and contains the kind of melodies and mockery that led Uncut to class the band as the point at which “Stephin Merritt lies down with The Vaselines.”

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans is a veritable smorgasbord of misery, longing and unrequited love; stories of small town resentments, half-forgotten school friends, failing relationships and awkward workplace conversations. As David explains: “It’s a collection torn from the pages of the diary I haven’t kept over the past 25 years. There are songs about places and people I vaguely remember, feelings I think that I once may have felt and the onset of middle-aged ennui.”

Despite entering new territory with the addition of brass and strings, they have nevertheless maintained the DIY ethos that made them darlings of the underground indie-pop scene, with each song on the album recorded and produced by the band in various gloomy bedrooms around Glasgow.

“glorious pop number from the Just Joans. Just imagine if Arab Strap wanted to be a proper rock band” Austin Town Hall

Fortitude Valley - Wreck [Badge]

Artist: Fortitude Valley
Title: Wreck
Format: 35mm black enamel pin badge on polished silver metalwork, on hand numbered backing card
Cat#: Fika076
Release date: 6th December 2019
Bandcamp | Spotify

Fortitude Valley is a brand new project for the songwriting talents of Durham based Brisbanite Laura Kovic. 

Having spent the majority of her musical career playing keyboards in other people’s bands, bringing their songs to life with a melodic flourish, it was about time for Laura K to find an outlet for her songs: awkward power-pop that’s bound to appeal to fans of The Beths, Weezer or The Pixies.

She’s assembled quite the band too: Martha’s Daniel Ellis on lead guitar and Nathan Stephens Griffin on drums, and Night Flowers’ Greg Ullyart on bass.

Badge for Bandcamp.jpg

Laura explains a little more: “Over the last couple of years I’ve started to feel musically restless and I wanted to try my hand at being the songwriter in a band, but had been going through writer’s block for a couple of years, so I bought a guitar in February 2018 to see if doing something different would help me...and it did! I sent some tracks to Nathan and he told me I should start my own band. I asked him if he’d be in it and he was like “obvs”. I already knew that I liked playing in a band with Greg, so that was easy and I wanted someone on guitar who could shred, so Daniel was an obvious choice. We managed to have a few practices before recording (but only one with all 4 of us, because we live in different cities), but everyone is very good at what they do and it worked out surprisingly well.”


Fortitude Valley - or just The Valley if you’re from Brisbane - is the heart of the city’s music scene; at least it was during Laura’s time playing in bands in Australia 13 years ago, before moving to the UK. It was a place that objectively felt mythical, a suburb with a special meaning, looking back from the other side of the world and many years later. Completing the circle, Fortitude Valley is also named checked in the Martha song Brutalism by the River (Arrhythmia).

Wreck was recorded with Tigercats’ Giles Barrett at Soup Studios in London and mixed and co-produced by Allo Darlin’s Mikey Collins at Big Jelly in Ramsgate. Fortitude Valley will be playing their first show in January 2020 at The Winter Sprinter at The Lexington. They’re finishing their first full length record to be released in the summer of 2020.

Fortitude Valley are Laura Kovic (Tigercats, Mikey Collins, Ski Saigon), Daniel Ellis (Martha, Onsind), Greg Ullyart (Night Flowers, Mikey Collins) and Nathan Stephens Griffin (Martha, Onsind).

“On Wreck, citing influences from The Beths to The Pixies, the sound is one of deliciously driving indie-pop, or in their own words, “awkward power-pop”. The track enters on an easy strum of guitar and Laura’s instantly compelling lyric, “it’s in the silence that I start to fall apart, I hate the way you’re running rings around my heart”. From there the rhythmic hum of bass and drums crashes into place along with a wonderfully meandering lead-guitar line.” For The Rabbits [Wreck video premiere]

“I was charmed right away, but the big hook comes around the 2 minute mark when extra backing vocals are included to really pull on your pop strings. As of right now, the band are wrapping up their debut, so here we are on proverbial pins and needles.” Austin Town Hall

“This is a stimulating and vivid track to start a new project with! ‘Wreck‘ is an amplified pop tune with a highly catchy melody, sweet vocals, and glowing guitars, reminding me of Dinosaur Jr.‘s slacker electricity. The lively and compelling cadence turns this debut into a sparkling humdinger” Turn Up The Volume

“a spritely slice of driven indie pop with melancholy lyrics and harmonies along the way” Collective Zine

“a true indie-pop delight” Indie For Bunnies [Italian]

“a dream group” Mindies [Spanish]

“power-pop at the crossroads with The Beths, Weezer or even Pixies” Fanfare Pop [French]

The Just Joans - The One I Loathe The Least [Digital]

Artist: The Just Joans
Title: The One I Loathe The Least
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika077SG2
Release date: 15th November 2019
Bandcamp | Spotify

Gloomy Glaswegians The Just Joans announce their new album The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans, due out on 11 January via Fika Recordings, by sharing the first single "Dear Diary, I Died Again Today". This painfully beautiful admission of everyday anxiety explores the trauma of awkward conversations with colleagues and vague acquaintances. With a different spin to their usual jangle pop, the inclusion of strings, arranged by Butcher Boy’s Alison Eales, create a dazzlingly maudlin depth to the track.

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans is a deeply personal collection of songs that hazily recall the past and contemplate the futility of the future. At the forefront remain the mischievous lyrics and heartfelt vocals of siblings David and Katie Pope, aided and abetted by Chris Elkin on lead guitar, Fraser Ford on bass guitar, Arion Xenos on keyboards and Jason Sweeney on drums.

A titular twist on the classic gothic horror novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by compatriot James Hogg, the new album is the follow-up to 2017’s You Might Be Smiling Now… and contains the kind of melodies and mockery that led Uncut to class the band as the point at which “Stephin Merritt lies down with The Vaselines.”

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans is a veritable smorgasbord of misery, longing and unrequited love; stories of small town resentments, half-forgotten school friends, failing relationships and awkward workplace conversations. As David explains: “It’s a collection torn from the pages of the diary I haven’t kept over the past 25 years. There are songs about places and people I vaguely remember, feelings I think that I once may have felt and the onset of middle-aged ennui.”

Despite entering new territory with the addition of brass and strings, they have nevertheless maintained the DIY ethos that made them darlings of the underground indie-pop scene, with each song on the album recorded and produced by the band in various gloomy bedrooms around Glasgow.

“Dipped in black humour and tenderness ‘The One I Loathe The Least’ is a bittersweet seesawing ode to friendship and finding someone who hates the same things that you do” God Is In The TV [single premiere]

“Everything they do is witty, and often self-deprecating, but it’s also the finer details in their craft that make their songs so lovable. Here, it’s the sort of forlorn sentiment of the track that brings that wry smile to your face when you discover it truly is a love song. I think the vocal interplay is quite successful too, balancing out the narrative approach of the tune. Fans of orchestral pop and clever lyricisms will surely feel right at home with this tune” Austin Town Hall

The Just Joans - Dear Diary, I Died Again Today [Digital]

Artist: The Just Joans
Title: Dear Diary, I Died Again Today
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika077SG1
Release date: 25th October 2019
Bandcamp | Spotify

Gloomy Glaswegians The Just Joans announce their new album The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans, due out on 11 January via Fika Recordings, by sharing the first single "Dear Diary, I Died Again Today". This painfully beautiful admission of everyday anxiety explores the trauma of awkward conversations with colleagues and vague acquaintances. With a different spin to their usual jangle pop, the inclusion of strings, arranged by Butcher Boy’s Alison Eales, create a dazzlingly maudlin depth to the track.

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans is a deeply personal collection of songs that hazily recall the past and contemplate the futility of the future. At the forefront remain the mischievous lyrics and heartfelt vocals of siblings David and Katie Pope, aided and abetted by Chris Elkin on lead guitar, Fraser Ford on bass guitar, Arion Xenos on keyboards and Jason Sweeney on drums.

A titular twist on the classic gothic horror novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by compatriot James Hogg, the new album is the follow-up to 2017’s You Might Be Smiling Now… and contains the kind of melodies and mockery that led Uncut to class the band as the point at which “Stephin Merritt lies down with The Vaselines.”

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans is a veritable smorgasbord of misery, longing and unrequited love; stories of small town resentments, half-forgotten school friends, failing relationships and awkward workplace conversations. As David explains: “It’s a collection torn from the pages of the diary I haven’t kept over the past 25 years. There are songs about places and people I vaguely remember, feelings I think that I once may have felt and the onset of middle-aged ennui.”

Despite entering new territory with the addition of brass and strings, they have nevertheless maintained the DIY ethos that made them darlings of the underground indie-pop scene, with each song on the album recorded and produced by the band in various gloomy bedrooms around Glasgow.

“The track tackles struggles with anxiety and the trauma of making small talk, taking on a maudlin honesty, a theme which is matched in the music via the additions of some undeniably gorgeous string arrangements. The track see’s Katie Pope, one half of the sibling vocalists who front the band, taking centre stage, accompanied by the sort of orchestral backing that made Monkey Swallows The Universe so utterly charming.” For The Rabbits [single premiere]

“It’s just a perfect little nugget; there’s no need for any percussion, as Pope carries the song in striking fashion; I will admit to being drawn to the horn work hanging out in the distant background” Austin Town Hall