John & Jehn - 'John & Jehn' (Faculty) Released 28/04/08

There are many reasons that being in a band is similar to being in an intimate relationship. For example teamwork is a key quality and there is a lot of planning involved, in some shape or form, and fights and compromises become part and parcel due to the increased amount of time spent together. The likes of “Ike and Tina” set the ball rolling for couples to work together in a band and now it is John and Jehn’s turn to enter the music business with their eponymous debut album. The London based, French couples influences are drawn from a wide pool which include fellow French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, along with the Velvet Underground, Joy Division and PJ Harvey.
 
The album is split into 2 sections John domineering in songs 1-5 and Jehn taking over in songs 6-10. Opening with the track 'DOM' the stark vocals between John and Jehn are apparent, and as the tortured calls of “Oh My God" bellow throughout the initial build up the track feels it should be heading somewhere anthemic, however never reaches its potential. With lyrics “ …Everything is Precious/Everything counts..” backed onto a pulsing tone, glockenspiels and tambourines, The Velvet Underground comparisons become clear. Like the rest of the album John and Jehn share vocal duties and allows them to express any pain and torment in there relationship, in unison.

'Fear, Fear, Fear' is a much cheerier song than the title allows you to believe, with backing guitars that wouldn’t sound a miss on a Travis single, the song really can harness rhythm and brings a psychedelic experience. Vocally, Jehn has poor tone and she has very little expression as she sings, but this is made up for by John’s deep baritone backing vocal, sounding very like Ian Curtis. 'The Fall' is a song however that does makes you really take notice, with its organic beauty, its shows luscious harmony and striped back instrumentation.
 
Stand-Out track on this collection comes in the form of ’20L07’, it has a summery composure and feels like you are capturing the essence of them falling in love for the first time. “… 20 is for you age/L is for your Love/ 7 for Heaven/20 L 07...” The song comes across as pop but has a real sense of traditional folk with harmonicas and a tinge of electronica with keyboard influences. “ Lady Spider” again see’s Jehn on lead vocals, which sound slightly stronger on this psychedelic rock track. The track shows lovely musicianship between the couple as John plays guitar and Jehn plucks away on bass, however the sense that the vocals let the track down is apparent and potentially a vocalist as strong as Leila Moss of the Duke Spirit could carry the song better.
 
This debut is pretty impressive when it comes to experimentation and it is clear that John & Jehn don’t want to fall into a particular niche. However at the same time the saying “trying to hard” springs to mind. John & Jehn sound at their best when they are more relaxed and strip back their instrumentation, however with so much to give onstage, they will go down a treat live during the festival season.