2023 Album A Day: Day 70/365
I Love You Jennifer B • Jockstrap
Favorite Track: Concrete Over Water
Thoughts: Pinning this album to a certain genre is difficult and almost disingenuous to what this album is. It is highly experimental with both its influences and its approach to creating music. Jockstrap clearly draws a lot from the concept of “vintage” music, both in the influences of genres ranging from classical and baroque string music to mid-century folk to 80s art pop, but also in how it replicates the imperfections of the physical media that music from those eras would’ve been on. You get warps and distortion that sound like skipping vinyl or damaged tape. It captures not only the sounds of the music it draws from, but also it’s imperfections. To add to that, the lyrics reflect the imperfections at a cultural level, mimicing a demure but self aware sense of intimacy that feels like a hyperbole of the rampant sexualization of young artists in the pop music world. It’s avant garde in its approach, but this album contains some really compelling music that pushes on the outer edges of electropop with it’s chamber orchestra sensibilities and cryptic imagery.
