The Scottish band The Just Joans have been flying around for a bit, but they typically don't get the attention they deserve. I think that's about to change as the group's newest release, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of The Just Joans, out tomorrow via Fika Recordings, is funny and plaintive, and all kinds of wonderful. I think one could understand the use of Belle & Sebastian as a point of stylistic comparison, though I think the tunes of the Just Joans are a good deal more sardonic.
Opener "Hey Ho Let's Not Go" sounds exactly as you think it might. That it's a genuinely funny song is nice as, usually, I steer clear of things that are trying to be clever. The Just Joans buy into their world-view with such (low-key) passion that none of that kind of material here, even something like "Wee Guys (Bobby's Got a Punctured Lung)", feels forced or silly. Instead, The Just Joans pivot between Spearmint-style synth-pop ("My Undying Love For You is Beginning to Die"), to compositions that are elegant and knowingly miserable ("The One I Loathe The Least"). The songs here are smart, and some of them are downright beautiful. For new fans I'd say, think of the best bits of Comet Gain mixed up with the wit and spark of The Spook School's stuff. And yet to compare The Just Joans' music to that of other bands is to possibly diminish just how unique this lot's material is. I mean, "Holiday" is gloriously straightforward and catchy, while "Like Yesterday Again" plucks at the heartstrings with a mixture of the kind of material that Pulp and Television Personalities once routinely offered up.
This is indie, obviously, but 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.
More details on The Just Joans via the band's official Facebook page.
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of The Just Joans is out on Friday via Fika Recordings.
[Photo: Allan Whyte Photography / The Just Joans Facebook page]