Jenny and Johnny, I'm Having Fun Now
BY BURAK ŞAHİN (IR/III)
burak_s@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
I've said it before: I love the bands that consist of couples. Yes, that is totally right, after Arcade Fire, The Ting Tings, Crystal Castles, The XX, and Sleigh Bells, you should hear Jenny and Johnny.
The band consists of Jenny Diane Lewis and her boyfriend Johnathan Rice. Jenny is known from her TV shows and movies and also her former band, Rilo Kiley. She had two solo albums, too. Moreover, we can hear hear Jenny's voice in The Killers' vocalist, Brandon Flowers' solo album. On the other hand, Johnathan is less known but he can be remembered from his single "So Sweet" played on the TV show, The O.C.; he also played Roy Orbison in the Johnny Cash/June Carter Cash biopic, Walk the Line.
The duo is enjoying significant notoriety thanks to good reviews. What they gained from their 2009 tour and encouragement of their friends led them to record I'm Having Fun Now, which is composed of 11 tracks. The sound of the album is indie/folk and their mood is a little bit dark, but the vocals and harmony of the songs is beautiful.
Key Songs: Animal, Big Wave, Scissor Runner.
Let's look what they described their album and sound in response of Uncut Magazine's questions:
"How did this album come about?
Jenny: We went into the studio, but we didn't tell anyone, so we ended up playing most of the instruments ourselves. We were plugging directly into the board, using pedals and effects we had never used previously. From the first song, it just came back at us and sounded completely different
Johnny: We've both made albums where it was almost as if we were trying to tackle a different genre with every song. These songs were written close together, so the album has a consistent flow.
Was it influenced by The Lemonheads and Evan Dando?
Johnny: When they re-released It's a Shame About Ray, it reignited our interest in that album. Evan, like me, is obsessed with British music. Jenny always says, for the songs on this record. ‘That's one of your British melodies.’
Jenny: Football chart-inspired melodies.
Johnny: Yeah, Jenny's the only Jewish girl from the Valley who knows Glasgow Celtic football songs. …"