Jonny - Jonny

Having your new band labelled a ‘super group’ can be both a good and a bad thing: you’re bound to get a decent amount of listeners, but you could also fall into being a mere curiosity, where people only show up for a gig because they liked your earlier work and leave disheartened when they find that the combination of their favourite artists doesn’t have the expected spectacular result. Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake and Euros Childs (formerly of the more interestingly named Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci) seem to have tried to tackle the latter problem by using the most inconspicuous band name of the decade yet: Jonny.

While their self-titled album may not stand out in name, each of the band members certainly do. Whatever you might expect when combining these men, it probably won’t be the bubble gum pop that heavily features on the album. Single ‘Candyfloss’ is the best example of the simplicity and melodies that form the framework of most of the tracks. The song is driven by an organ that could just as easily have originated in a Bangles tracks from the 80s. On the tracks that follow no new ground is broken - the likes of ‘Waiting Around For You’ and ‘Circling the Sun’ continue on the exact same note.

The amazing harmonies created by the two singers’ voices - and their ability to write a song about something trivial as bread - partly make up for the lack of variation. Then there’s ‘Cave Dance’. The track starts as any other song, only to end as an almost eleven minute long, mainly instrumental coda. This does offer some change and redirects the listener’s attention back to the album, but somehow it feels like more of a live track.

Overall, the album certainly has its moments, but listening to the entire thing might feel like listening to an EP stuck on repeat. There’s just not enough variation to make this as interesting as a Norman Blake / Euros Childs collaboration ought to be. A fan of either of these gentlemen’s musical projects can certainly enjoy themselves with Jonny, but I’m afraid that for the public new to them Jonny will be just a thing of curiosity.