"[...] Needless to say i’m working out What it is to be gifted Is it just a condition of Solipsistic obsession Maybe just self deception [...]"
-Robert "Bobbing" Luisi Ross, Johnny Bravo (2018 Shoegaze Version)
Personal deep cut (next to "Crimes", also by Bobbing) and a lovely song all around. His music needs more love.
I was trying to think of what this song reminded me of, then I realized it sounded sort of similar to Nothing Ever Happened by Deerhunter.
Now that's all well and good on its own, until I remembered that Bobbing had played a cover of that EXACT song before as part of his now defunct band Feed Me Jack, and only around two years before the production of the song above!
Either a fun coincidence or possible influence, but that's not for me to speculate. Thought it worth sharing!
Some things of note: This performance was part of their farewell show. In the years since, three of the former members have started their own solo projects. The former members have stated that there was no animosity in the breakup and have (to my knowledge) continued to be on good terms since. Some of you might recognize frontman Sven Gamsky, whose solo project Still Woozy started only a year following the band's breakup and which has gone on to garner by far the most success out of the FMJ alumni.
Unlike Sven's sound, which dabbles somewhere in the realm between Psychedelic and Bedroom Pop, Feed Me Jack's sound blended Math Rock with stylings of Jazz and early Pop rock to create a carefree and colourful appeal circa their first album, Chumpfrey (2012). Their sound continued to develop with the soon following EP Anatolia (2013), a concept record aiming to create "one long song" and a step into the melancholy that would characterize the remainder of their discography. After a cover EP entitled "Covers" in 2015, featuring songs by The Beatles, Steely Dan, Weezer and Little Dragon respectively, the band released their final EP, Ultra Ego (2016), which fully embodied the experimental and melacholic direction that would go on to echo in the sound of Bobbing's early solo material. The name Feed Me Jack comes from a line in the movie "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb", the line also features in their song Promiscuity:
"[...] we'll fight them together, boy, like we did just now, on the floor, eh? You with the old gun, and me with the belt and the ammo, feeding you, Jack! Feed me, you said, and I was feeding you, Jack."
The farewell show version omits this in favour of the aforementioned medley with Nothing Ever Happens. If you've read this far, thank you for listening! Feed Me Jack is my favourite band, so if any of what I said sounded interesting then I hope you choose to sample some of their discography!