#jemima surrender

You can change your name You can find a new walk

It’s Friday and we’re in love with ... JEMIMA SURRENDER.

Ahead of the release of their new album The Uninhabited World this autumn, Bristol band and Issue 28 front cover stars Jemima Surrender are streaming their video for new track, “Sylvia”. Watch it below. “Sylvia” is the first track to be taken from The Uninhabited World, wh...

Some things cannot wait. Some things like this, our premiere of “Anathema”, the opening track from Jemima Surrender’s new EP Ask Me Again. I was intending to premiere the song on Monday to see the new week in with a flutter of pop-rock colour. But then the band sent me the full EP to review for t...

Jemima Surrender - The Cull (demo)

I could start with lots of praise for The Cube itself, a brilliant venue for everything you want to give some focused attention to (it's a cinema, so gigs will be seated events…). A well filled room promised a nice night. Tom OC Wilson opened in a very well entertaining way, just him and his e-guitar, delivering a nerdy storyteller style. If he ever happens to stumble over this entry, I hope he isn't offended, but for about half of his songs (especially the one about the stray cat) I wished he had swapped his guitar for a harp. Shortly after Jemima Surrender, a duo of a drummer and a guitar playing singer, performed their 'balladic fuzz with hooks and claws' - their own description nails it pretty much. They weren't as lightly to digest as the first act, but after warming up through their first two songs they had bloomed to something very worth watching and listening to. Singer Millie's voice is both fascinating and challenging, sounding like the first second after you've pitched down a 45 RPM single to 33 speed. She is clearly the driving force with nervous guitar strumming and restless lyrics echoed by the music. Some vague reminders of Tory Amos and Breeders here and there (only in a positive way). Maybe a little less reverb would have been even better. All in all, in a time of so many gender stereotyped folky women I was very happy to see some proper claws, smartness, courage, and hear some intended disharmonies.  The arrangements on stage for headliner SJ Esau looked very promising already: a mighty mixing unit, a full drum kit plus sheet metal plate, a cello, and a table of more electronic gadgets, one of them something I haven't seen yet: a row of nails in a board, probably electric, and a metal bow. I expected a theremin-like sound, but was proven wrong. Need to learn more about it! SJ Esau and drummer Sean Talbot started each placed to one side of the stage, an animation loop filled the screen in the background between them. Their music was as mind and body whirling as the animations - they took the audience on a rocket ride from the beginning and only SJ Esau's charming second starts of songs here and there or the odd older, quieter piece gave the opportunity to take a deep breath before they went on bursting, mixing, chanting, beatboxing, sampling, with a pinch of Hot Chip here, another pinch of Console/Notwist there. Pew, pew, pew - was on an adrenaline rush by the end of the gig. Great music and truly extraordinary drummer - incredible! I'd give a little extra-star for cuteness and style: at the merch table there were individually coloured sheets of paper serving as vouchers for everybody pre-ordering the soon to come vinyl version of 'Exploding Views'. Of course, I've got one! There will be more shows, btw., check out Songkick...

The Band - Jemima Surrender

The Band | Jemima Surrender