Jugu

What would you do if harmonies and counter melodies automatically buzzed in your brain whenever you heard a song on the radio?
What if you could not stop random tunes and rhythms popping into your head at the strangest of times, like when you’re waiting for water to boil, or walking the dog?

You’d have to record them right? Well Jugu did. Countless cassette tapes full of “la la las” slowly accumulated in the desk drawer. Later similar gobble-gook was recorded quietly into the mobile phone when no one else was looking. Years and years of notebooks were filled with lyrics, scratched out, re-written, mostly forgotten.

But some of those melodies just would not leave. They turned into verses, choruses and then whole songs. They became too big for the page, too complex for a rushed recording. They needed bass lines and drums, synths, layers and layers of instrumentation. They took on lives of their own.

So Jugu learnt how to record music. She went to school and studied Digital Media at the College of Fine Arts. She went to AFTRS. She did internships at recording studios, and then worked in them. But the songs still would not leave her head. Something needed to be done.

Jugu bit the bullet. She decided to start a solo project and invest everything she had into establishing herself as a songwriter. It was a slow, laborious process. Five tunes were chosen, carefully crafted, refined, re-worked and re-mixed in her home studio, until they were “finished” (as if the creative process ever ends).

The first track, “Infatuation” started out as a love song but then decided to be cheeky. Written from the perspective of a crazed fan of the tween stalker variety “I google searched your name, put your photo in a frame”. It’s immature, seductive and a little bit on the creepy side.

“Getting Closer” is a catchy upbeat track that bops along with restless optimism. A bundle of energy and anticipation, this tune will get stuck in your head.

“The Deep” is the musical equivalent of the floaty feeling you get when falling in love. Teeming with water related imagery such as “will our lips, like two ships, crash in the dark?” and “let’s plunge and curl, underneath these eddy swirls”, it’s not difficult to imagine how it was inspired by a moonlit kiss at Circular Quay.

Then there are the tunes that venture towards the dark side. “Catastrophe” is the product of unfortunate regrets and relationships turned sour. “Stand Up” is a moody kick up the bum, so to speak, a motivational message in song.

These five songs make up Jugu’s “Getting Closer E.P.” It is small collection of unique, electro-pop delights featuring her warm soprano vocals, surrounded by synths and electric drums.

It’s Jugu’s debut effort, but certainly not her last.