Review: JuJu - Our Mother Was A Plant

Without doubt, one of the albums of last year was JuJu's self-titled debut on Sunrise Ocean Bender (in fact, came in at No.2 on my end of year list.) JuJu is, of course, Gioele Valenti of Lay Llamas and Herself and the debut album was "atmospheric and thoughtful and made with love and genuine craft. The melding of influences gives the album a well-rounded feel that leads the listener to exotic and fantastic places" (read my full review here.) Fuzz Club have picked up the baton for the sophomore release but will it reach the heights of its predecessor? Well, on paper...yes; the press release states "Carrying on in its predecessor’s footsteps, the new LP is a continuation of JuJu’s ritualistic sonic exploration into the cultural implications of the current refugee crisis, humanities increasingly strained relationship with Mother Earth and neo-pagan mythology.....JuJu’s shamanic mantras are influenced just as much by afrobeat, krautrock, glam, post-punk, art rock, drone and everything in between." and if that wasn't enough, it has a guest contribution from 'Capra Informis', the masked djembe player from Goat.

Any misapprehensions about the album are lifted as soon as the pulsating bassline and motorik rhythm of opener 'Death By Beautiful Things' reaches the ears. Add to these a rich, sonorous guitar that rings pure through a layer of reverb and you have a recipe for a true psych treat. As the track progresses it blossoms; little flourishes of Floydesque guitar, cosmically spacey synths and hushed chants all join the fray. I think the highest praise I can give it is to say that it could have quite easily have fit onto the debut and to say that it has raised the bar high for the remainder of the album is an understatement. 'In A Ghetto (ft Capra Informis)' follows...anther hypnotic beat sets the tone before the djembe of Capra Informis joins forces with some ace fuzzy guitar and once again we are under the spell of JuJu. The guitar fades into the background leaving djembe and vocals in the foreground and there are spells of exotic melodies that flirt with us from the edges of the track..it all becomes a gorgeous melange of the tropical and the recognisable, but then, this is what Valenti does so well...he takes psych tropes and plays with them, adding things and taking things away until he comes up with something unique and, at times, indefinable. 'And Play A Game' opens with a piano refrain accompanied by yet another metronomic rhythm and all manner of electronica. Snatches of spoken word samples can be discerned through the lilting melody. There are little twists and turns in the tale...passages of almost freakout guitar give way to more of Valenti's recognisable vocalising, the melody shifts like sand between strident and restrained but the only thing that doesn't vary is that rhythm, it is incessant, never pausing, never dropping but pounds on and on like a jogger's stride. 'James Dean' sees things get a heavier..the bass is huge and reverberates around your head like a headache that won't shift and the vocals sit beneath. This is the closest JuJu gets to straight up neo-psych but even then there is enough happening to distance it by miles from 'colour by numbers' stuff...little changes in key and tempo, the addition of a sparkling piano line or the hint of the sixties courtesy of an organ. 'I Got Your Soul' is brilliant..an afrocentric psychedelic soul song that has plenty of groove and seventies funk whilst still retaining the telltale psych signatures - fuzzy guitars, repetitive beats and reverb-a-plenty..absolute funkin' genius! This is followed by a real belter...'Patrick' is driven by a another huge bassline more than ably accompanied by a guitar that spins around proceedings and some funky drums. One of the things that I love so much about JuJu's music is his incessant need to keep things changing...none of these tracks are happy to settle into a pattern and play out...case in point...'Patrick' keeps evolving and morphing...the guitar flits in and out of the foreground and the vocals veer between intimate but multi-tracked harmonies and what sounds like stadium filling chants. It is this refusal to stick to a pattern that makes this, and the debut, such diverse and tantalising listens. 'What A Bad Day' opens with yet another leviathan bassline and repetitive guitar chords and leads you to think that is gonna be a huge stormer of a track, but when the dust settles what is revealed is a mid-tempo neo-psych track, thanks in part to the sweet vocals. 'Sunny After Moon' is another to feature Capra Informis and the African influence is clear from the start, some gorgeous afrobased guitar and sparkling, bubbling electronica conjure visions of the sun beaten Savannah, further exacerbated when the djemba of Informis joins in. There is feeling of real joy in this track..it radiates a dusky mellowness that really does warm the cockles..even the cheeky addition of some psytrance synth at one stage cannot detract from the visions of a sun-beaten, dusty savannah that are conjured.

It must be hard for an artist who has been lauded far and wide for a debut album to follow it up...many would use the same recipe and hope but that's not Valenti's way. The debut's ritualistic overtones and hints of the occult have been ousted in favour for a more worldly and afrocentric vibe. The creative manner in which the music is constructed is still the same, there are still the telltale JuJu motifs and signatures. So, yes...this is a triumph and the equal to its predecessor. There is a chiaroscuro about this album that makes it irresistable..passages of darkness are lit up by shining jewels that sparkle like the stars in the firmament. But what makes this a special album by a special artist is Valenti's ability to take structures and instrumentation from faraway lands and to seamlessly weave them into his own musical tapestry and without being patronising or gimmicky...there is an integrity and a sincerity that shines through. As to whether 'Our Mother Was A Plant' will capture the imagination of psych lovers out there is not for me to say but it has certainly captured mine and I love it!! It is released on Fuzz Club on 22nd September on vinyl (standard and deluxe editions) and CD and pre-orders are up now on the Fuzz Club site here. Those lucky enough to be attending the Liverpool Psych Fest in Sept can catch him there.