The title of Jockstrap’s debut album is apt because it thrives in the liminal space between the broad and pinprick-specific, between a phrase like “I love you” and the acknowledgement of a personal connection. I Love You Jennifer B is filled with accessible musings on urban life and epiphanies spurred by lovers and considerations of mental health.
English duo Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye, who self-produced all 10 songs here, cram their music with as many different sounds as they can manage. Fittingly, given the songs’ focus on dichotomies, they effortlessly combine analog and digital instruments. Each track is concocted to act as a delivery system for emotional revelations to match the way the narratives keep hinging on a sense of discovery: the goofy-sounding synths on “Jennifer B” match Skye’s absurdist interjections; the whine of guitar feedback serves as the initial backbone of “Concrete Over Water” before it morphs and amplifies multiple times; and dissonant synth notes are tangled up with an airhorn, among other noises, on “Debra.”
Coursing through the album’s wild array of textures is an undeniable ear for melody, with each escalation of intensity playing like a moment of transcendence all its own. The songs are also marked by a mix of assuredness, doubt, and curiosity that results in a boundless sonic and thematic richness. Ellery, who handles all of the vocals—and is also a member of Black Country, New Road, that other recent break-out act from the U.K.—often charmingly doubles back on her sentiments, correcting the record. “Like a carpet/No, like a mohair sweater,” she sings on “Jennifer B,” followed by “Dressed in bluе/No—dressed in pink!” on “Concrete Over Water.”
Perhaps Jockstrap’s weakest mode is its attempts at folk pop, as evinced by “What’s It All About?” and “Lancaster Court,” but even those tracks aren’t without their grace notes. The former sonically self-destructs in the end while the latter includes charming imperfections like loose, rattling guitar strings and fingers sliding on frets. I Love You Jennifer B is filled with freewheeling musical pivots that confidently cover an ambitious amount of territory and find Ellery and Skye coming into their own as decisive talents.
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