Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong - Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong (2008)

Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong were a UK jangly indie-pop band from the mid 2000's, who were originally called Joe Lean And The Tantrums. In 2008, the band supported The Cribs on the 2008 NME Awards Tour, and showcased their sound at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. They played 25 gigs throughout April and May, after their second single 'Lonely Buoy' was released in March 2008, and later that year they recorded their debut album, with promo copies being issued to journalists, resulting in an 8 out 10 review in the NME. However, despite this acclaim the release was suddenly cancelled the following week, with the band saying that the songs no longer represented their music at that time, but unfortunately they never got the chance to rerecord the songs before they split up in 2010. Maxim Barron, Dominic O'Dair and Tom Dougall formed a new band, a psychedelic/post-punk act called Toy, and have released a number of well-received albums, while James Craig now plays in One Night Only alongside his brother George. Joe Lean also acts under the name Joe Van Moyland, and played Jamie Chapman in the UK sitcom 'Peep Show'. Luckily I downloaded the album as soon as I saw it online as I already knew the band from their singles, and so now you too can also hear the record that the band didn't think was worth hearing, but which I think is a great collection of jangly pop songs of the period.

Track listing

01 Lucio Starts Fires
02 In Competition
03 Where Do You Go
04 Baby
05 Brooklyn
06 Dear Rose
07 I Ain't Sure
08 Why Did You Break My Heart
09 Far Too Early To Tell
10 Lonely Buoy
11 Teenagers
12 Light And The Dark
13 Adelaide