I'm Having Fun Now - Jenny and Johnny

Phew, after that rather serious post yesterday it's time to get back on the pop trail. And what a way to start down that path. Jenny and Johnny, rather than being children's TV programme presenters, are pop-meisters. Yes I know the name does make them sound like they'd be more at home on Playaway, but they pack a mean tune. And beside, that's their name. Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice are solo artists in their own right but together they are more than a sum of their parts. A bit like 'Hart to Hart' but with less murder and more melody. Actually if I had to work out a ratio I would say it was 70:30 in favour of Jenny Lewis. But there is no place in pop music for mathematics. Unless you include Kraftwerk who use quadratic equations to create their albums. Allegedly.

However it is arrived at, this is a great guitar indie pop album. Within moments of hearing the opening riff of the first track 'Scissor Runner' I'm convinced you'll be convinced. This pulls off the trick of sounding faintly familiar whilst at the same time being totally fresh. And the bonus is that they are giving this track away for free on their website for the bargain price of....an email address. Go check it out.

The rest of the album follows in a similar fashion, with glorious harmonies, great guitar tunes and memorable lyrics. Super pop stuff.

We were fortunate to catch the duo when they toured in 2010 at the tiny O2 Academy 2 venue on a snowy Newcastle night in November. One can only wonder quite what musicians from the far flung corners of the globe; Los Angeles, New York and Croydon think when they arrive in a small club where only about thrirty  people have turned up to see them perform. Including the bar staff. I guess we'll never know. Anyway it was a great night and the band were on fire. Not literally of course as that would've been a totally different experience. But they stormed through tracks from this album and some of JL's previous releases.

It's a shame that more people had not turned up to witness pop history being made. But hey, that's their loss. In the meantime they are one of guitar indie pop's best kept secrets.