Well, it wasn’t quite to be for London it-duo Jockstrap at the Mercury awards last week, with the prestigious accolade and £25,000 prize money going to jazz quintet Ezra Collective instead.
But the pair, consisting of Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye, nonetheless had a deserving moment in the spotlight, gaining a nomination for their experimental, utterly unique I Love You Jennifer B LP.
And you can bet they’d take that sense of daringness into their next project: a fully remixed version of said shortlisted album.
Credit: Eddie Whelan
I<3UQTINVU – short for I Love You Cutie, I Envy You – is set for release via Rough Trade Records, and its announcement has been marked by the release of lead single ‘Red Eye’, featuring the brilliantly frantic vocals of IAN STARR, who Skye only connected with online a few months ago.
Have a listen to the track via its equally frenetic video below.
I<3UQTINVU will be available on standard black vinyl and limited edition red vinyl, complete with a rose-perfumed inner sleeve, which fans can pre-order here.
The forthcoming remix record is the brainchild of Skye, who had multiple versions of the album’s original tracklisting to stay inspired while writing I Love You Jennifer B.
Discussing the project further and how it all came together, Skye has explained: “Some of these remixes are almost three years old, and some are only six months old. I made most of them really quickly, in a day or so. It keeps me sane to do this whilst mixing the album.
“I don’t really remember making them. It’s like eating too much and then throwing up and this is what comes out. It’s a weird feeling but also really fun. I felt very happy making some of this music and live it will be quite the show.”
Credit: Eddie Whelan
Jockstrap are set to headline Barbican Hall on 13 and 14 December, with both dates having sold out months in advance, in a sign of the pull factor they currently wield.
The band have also sold out their entire UK and North American tours late last year and also played shows in Australia and Japan for the first time;
They have further dates in North America and Europe and festivals scheduled throughout the rest of this year – the full dates for which you can see via the band’s site.
In our four-star review of I Love You Jennifer B, whynow wrote: “You feel there’s a kind of irony to the whole thing, as though the pair are saying, “Yeh, we can do that – so what?”.
Credit: Eddie Whelan
“Take the accompanying press shots of them, for instance, with their fake hair casting them as old-fashioned film stars. Even the album’s title sounds like the impersonation of a (rather than an actual) film title.
“Then compare that to the almost laughably minimalist album cover. There’s a game of smoke and mirrors being had here. As if they know that in order to be new, they must compile a smorgasbord of lots that’s come before. It’s very clever. And it sounds terrific.”
