Live Concert Photography: Pop Shop Presents: Geowulf with Aaron Taos at Baby’s All Right 8/21/19
Over the past couple of years, I’ve written quite a bit about JOVM mainstays Geowulf. The act, which is comprised of Noosa, Australia-born friends and collaborators, Star Kendrick and Toma Benjamin have known each other since they were both teenagers; however, their musical collaboration is much more recent development, that can be traced to when Kendrick enlisted the assistance of her old friend to flesh out some of her early demos.
Now, as you may recall, after a string of successful, critically applauded singles that included “Saltwater,” which received over 1 million Spotify streams and reached Hype Machine‘s Top Ten and landed at #4 on Spotify’s US Viral Charts; the Mazzy Star meets Fleetwood Mac-like “Don’t Talk About You;” the Phil Spector meets Still Corners “Drink Too Much;” the jangling, 60s girls group pop-inspired single “Hideaway,;” and The Smiths-like “Sunday,” the JOVM mainstays released their Duncan Mills-produced, full-length debut, Great Big Blue last year.
Building on the growing profile, the duo’s highly anticipated sophomore album My Resignation is slated for an October 25, 2019 release through [PIAS] Recordings, and the album finds the Aussie JOVM mainstays collaborating with acclaimed songwriter and producer Justin Parker on a number of tracks. And reportedly, the album finds Kendrick writing arguably the most brutally honest lyrics of their growing catalog to date, with the material thematically focusing on loneliness — in particular, learning to accept it and love the space it can provide. But this is viewed through the lens of a 20-something woman trying to maneuver the weight of the expectations upon by others and herself. And it should sound familiar; because at some point or another, we’ve all been there. The album also touches upon heartbreak, growth and self-actualization — and unsurprisingly, My Resignation‘s material finds the duo maturing and actively attempting to maneuver the complexities of adulthood with their sanity intact.
The Aussie-born, JOVM mainstays finished a short run of Stateside shows that included their NYC area debut at Baby’s All Right last week. The set was a career-spanning set that featured material off Great Big Blue, and material off their forthcoming sophomore album — including the self-assured first single “I See Red,” which found the duo subtly expanding upon the sound that won the attention of the blogosphere and elsewhere, and the deceptive yet sugary pop confection “Round and Round.” The duo returns to the States for a handful of shows in November. Check out the remaining tour dates and then photos from the show below.
Tour Dates
