F*CKED UP Off-shoot Jade Hairpins Return with "J Terrapin" Single & Announce Debut Album 'Harmony Avenue' (Merge Records)
Aside from his duties in F*CKED UP, Jonah Falco has stayed busy as of late, mixing/playing drums on GAME's full-length debut, NO ONE WINS, producing Chubby & The Gang's "All Along The Uxbridge Road" 7-inch and raucous 2020 album, Speed Kills, mixing and recording Scrap Brain's A Journey Into Madness, and, most recently, mixing S.H.I.T.'s two one-off singles, "HIDDEN IN ETERNITY" & "ERASER III." It was very recently revealed that Falco is, also, behind mysterious Alternative/Dream Pop group, Jade Hairpins. Along with fellow F*CKED UP bandmate, Mike Haliechuk, Jonah Falco quietly released a 7-inch entitled "Mother Man" B/W "Gracefully" on the exact same day as F*CKED UP's 2018 album, Dose Your Dreams. Jonah Falco & Mike Haliechuk recently played a string of live shows Overseas following their official "coming out" as Jade Hairpins, along with a digital re-release of their 2018 single. Today, Jade Hairpins have returned once more with an album announcement for their debut full-length, 'Harmony Avenue,' along with their first proper single, "J Terrapin." Additionally, FLOOD MAGAZINE premiered an accompanying music video for "J Terrapin," which evokes vibes of 1960's vinyl covers and doubles as a rapid-fire lyric video. Along with founding members Falco & Haliechuk, it appears as though Jade Hairpins now includes Tamsin M. Leach & Jack Goldstein, as well.
2018 B-side "Gracefully" appears to be absent from 'Harmony Avenue's tracklisting, but "Mother Man" re-appears, although, now labeled as "Motherman" with no Space. A Merge Records press release explains each Jade Hairpins composition conceived in-studio in-real-time, then, edited and crafted to become 'Harmony Avenue.' Jonah Falco describes the album as effectively "straddling the Post-post-punk of something like New Order, Scritti Politti, and Orange Juice with a primordial sense of humour and absurdity, not unlike Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Television Personalities, or The Monks." When recording 'Harmony Avenue,' Jonah Falco & Mike Haliechuk first focused on creating stories for primarily character-based writing and then, on less absurd emotional/thoughtful/personal self-reflection. Oddly enough, Merge's press release, additionally, explains 'Harmony Avenue' was "originally conceived as a potential addendum to the universe of [F*CKED UP's] Dose Your Dreams, but the end result was more exciting than Falco & Haliechuk anticipated and deserved its own spotlight." It's definitely gonna be something... but, at this point, I wouldn't expect it to sound ANYTHING like F*CKED UP's outpiut in recent years! Jade Hairpins' 'Harmony Avenue' is out Friday, May 29, 2020, via Merge Records. It's currently available for pre-order in a number of formats directly from Jade Hairpins' Bandcamp page.