The Jangle Band are new kings of jangly power pop, a sister band to the Brittanicas, whose High Tea is still a favorite of anyone who heard it, and a particular fave of mine and the Jangle Band’s two debut songs available for free on soundcloud, comes from a similar, or at least familiar, place.
The connection is Perth, Australia’s favorite song Joe Algeri, who has followed his trans-Pacific collaboration with Herb Eimerman the Brittanicas with another better living through science new band featuring Jeff Baker and Ian Freeman (who plays what instrument? Well Joe plays guitar and sings).
The two songs are perfect examples of jangle, “This Soul Is Not For Sale” is a rethinking of the “The Bells Of Rhymney” (note the Rickenbacker on the cover) with the folkness replaced by Beatley power pop. My Buddy Robert Ross will flip for it, I promise, and while I know it looks easy to wear your influences so on your sleeve, if it was easy, why doesn’t everybody do it? There is a magic to renewing something so great and making it your own.
Anyway, this is early Byrds, not the psychedelic Byrds or the country Byrds, it sounds like if the Byrds were in “A Hard Day’s Night” and Joe, Jeff, and Ian left the movie house and decided to form a band. “Kill The Lovers” -about a relationship in transition , is similar but deeper: imagine the Byrds replaced the Beatles in “Help” and then recorded a track for For Sale. Who are these guys? Here is their Press Release:
“The formation of the Jangle Band was an accident of circumstance; it should have been all over after RTR’s 2015 In The Pines Festival in Perth. Within 2 days, 2 new songs were written and a trans-continental recording project began. Within 3 weeks, 3 new members were enlisted on the east coast and it somehow became a franchise, not a band.
The essence of the Jangle Band remains a celebration of the songs and the sounds of Jeff Baker and Ian Freeman, alumni from the great Perth pop movement of the 80’s from bands such as The Palisades, Mars Bastards, The Rainyard and Header.
The spirit of the jangle of that era now lives on in the form of the A and Double A of The Jangle Band’s debut single – Kill The Lovers/This Soul Is Not For Sale. Heavily reminiscent of the member’s key B-band influences – Byrds, Beatles and Badfinger – the single is a chime and harmony festival typical of the group’s sound.
The single features the West Coast Chapter of the band – Ian and Jeff in Melbourne plus Joe Algeri, Dave Wallace and Mark Eaton in Perth. It was recorded in their respective homes plus Bordello Studios in Perth where it was it was mixed and produced by Joe.
Don’t ask us anything else because we just don’t know the answer, chances are we haven’t even discussed it. We love the past and are even more excited about the future.”
Here is the link to a Free Download.
And here is a grade: A. Why an “A”? Because it is exactly what you hoped it would be.
Thanks so much Iman! To answer your question, all 5 of us sing, play guitar and write songs. Our live line-up is:
Ian Freeman – vocals, tambourine
Jeff Baker – guitar, vocals
Joe Algeri – guitar, vocals
Dave Wallace – bass, vocals
Mark ‘Sid’ Eaton – drums, vocals