• Jabu - Severn Food Plain / Where You Run To
  • Jabu - Severn Food Plain / Where You Run To

Jabu - Severn Food Plain / Where You Run To

Six Of Swords

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Bristol's 1&only Jabu continue to expand on their unique soundworld with this depth charging, dubwise dream pop & shoegaze excursion for Six Of Swords, ahead of a new album, soon come.

across four mighty cuts this 12" stretches out into dub version 'disco mix' territory (vocal + version) mixed by the don Birthmark.

Additonally, and beautifully, we're treated to extra musical vision from Memotone (clarinet) and Josh Horsley (cello) on this record too, elevating the Jabu sound into higher heights, whilst still feeling aesthetically in tune with the perfectly 'heads down' sound we know and love.

Jabu turn up the introspective swoon to a subtle, yet poignant maximum with these cuts - delicately tucking us into a dark, cosy coccoon of phased out guitar, spacious vocals and dubbed out drum sound, which takes new shapes and forms with each echo of instrumentation - this is the medicine you need to get through winter.

...See you in spring, we'll be tucked away with this on loop for the foreseeable.

"Titled after the rural, estuarine landscape bordering their Bristol hometown, ‘Severn Flood Plain’ sees the band pivot towards a more jagged and up-tempo, post-punk sound. It runs on a nagging drum machine pulse that feels closer to Joy Division than Sly Stone; while the echo-laced vocals and tremolo guitar phrasing hark back to the ‘50s slapback sound of Lee Hazlewood and Duane Eddy. Written and sung by Jasmine Butt, the lyrics describe a visit to a friend near the mouth of the Severn, and hint towards a darkness that can also be felt across that tidal landscape. 

Dropping the pace to a languorous, sensual sprawl, ‘Where You Run To’ is plaintive and yearning, an opiated, ethereal flipside to ‘Severn Flood Plain’s more urgent, anxiety-laced opener. Alex Rendall’s vocals glide over a stripped, metronomic backdrop, eventually entwining with Memotone’s ghostly, processed clarinet.

If the band’s musical reference points appear to have shifted, their process remains indebted to dub and still very much rooted in the multicultural cross-pollination peculiar to their home city of Bristol. Both tracks are extended, with dub versions courtesy of Birthmark. The band sat in on those sessions, completing the circle that began with J’s on-stage mixing of their live sets. The strands provided by Will and Josh provide introspective counterpoint to the sound system leanings. "

Absolutely lush gear. Oozing with depth and warmth on wax too. If you, like us, are a Jabu fan already, you'll know what to do - if not, well, do step inside and hear for yourself...