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Project Jenny, Project Jan

The Colors EP

(Might; US: 14 Apr 2009; UK: 14 Apr 2009)

The best thing about the new EP from Project Jenny, Project Jan is that the lead-off song, “Pins and Needles”, features Fujiya & Miyagi prominently. The British duo’s urgent-whisper style is backed by a full-timbre, perfect pizzicato-electronica backdrop. The Brooklyn group has gathered a few other friends—So Percussion may be the most well-recognised—with the result that the material sounds fuller and broader than their enjoyable but sometimes slight debut XOXOXOXOXO.


The material bounces with life and electronic maximalism, indebted equally to Basement Jaxx and Junior Boys. “Rainbows”, a highlight, approaches the subtle beauty of the latter group with slow, syncopated vocal lines harmonizing sweetly over a hyperactive, churning accompaniment. There are hints that Project Jenny, Project Jan—an outfit whose dilettantism may have diluted the impact of their best songs—is yet to settle on a single style. “Caller ID”, with its rap-talk, at first recalls Ween’s “Voodoo Lady” but quickly devolves into pointless argument. The EP’s got a dual function, acting both as a teaser of the upcoming sophomore full-length, and as a fundraiser for kids’ literacy and creativity non-profit 826NYC.

Rating:

Dan Raper has been writing about music for PopMatters since 2005. Prior to that he did the same thing for his college newspaper and for his school newspaper before that. Of course he also writes fiction, though his only published work is entitled "Gamma-secretase exists on the plasma membrane as an intact complex that accepts substrates and effects intramembrane cleavage". He is currently studying medicine at the University of Sydney, Australia.


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