aaamusic | On 23, Apr 2011

Band: Juffage
Release: Semicircle (album) – vinyl/mp3
Date: 6th June 2011
Label: Function Records
Web links: http://www.juffage.com
Social Media links: http://twitter.com/juffage

Juffage is Jeff T. Smith, a solo sound artist and multi-instrumentalist from Leeds, via Chicago, Illinois. He is often seen in bars, art galleries, and basements with a band’s worth of instruments.
A recording enthusiast at heart, he has spent time in some of Chicago’s finest studios including Engine Studios (w/ Brian Deck), and Electrical Audio (w/ Steve Albini). Live shows see him coming up with inventive new ways of bringing his multi-layered recordings to the stage, utilising live looping and multitasking of drums, vocals, basses, guitars, keys, omnichord, clarinet, melodica, and manipulated cassettes. Juffage performances have been compared to a synthesis of Lightning Bolt’s rhythmic ferocity, Radiohead’s lush pop sensibility, King Tubby’s manipulative production, and Andrew Bird’s ability to make a good loop. The result has been described as a “hyperactive and technically accomplished display”, “magical”, and “wildly exuberant yet deceptively delicate”.
His new album, ‘Semicircle’, takes his distinctive larger-than-life performance style to an even grander scale, adding even more instruments to the mix. But there’s careful orchestration at work under the surface: couched in a patchwork of sounds and cut-up samples is a plethora of pop sensibilities. ‘Small Fires’ casts layers of whirring keys and erratic, densely-packed drums as the oddball trappings that conceal Juffage’s earworm hooks, and ‘My Weakness’ layers, fuzzes, and distorts its way out of being a straight-forward pop song. ‘Semicircle’ and ‘HHV’ combine fragments of layered vocal harmoies, analog synthesizers, and thick slabs of slow-moving melody.
This debut is a perfect distillation of what Juffage is about – both defiantly experimental and unashamedly pop-oriented, with neither feature seeming out of place or at war with the other. Recorded over a six year period in 22 different locations around the U.S.A. and U.K., ‘Semicircle’ is an ambitious record and a bold statement of the Juffage story so far.
‘Semicircle’ is released on 6th June via London label Function Records (Maybeshewill, Shield Your Eyes, Cats Cats and Cats, Nitkowski). Juffage will be on tour in UK throughout May. Details and tour dates are on the reverse.

Tracklisting:

1) Semicircle
2) 120/240
3) Small Fires
4) Stop Making Music
5) Under Fanblades
6) My Weakness
7) HHV
8) Drone II

Upcoming Shows:

03 MAY: Sheffield – the Harley
06 MAY: Bradford – Zuu Bar
07 MAY: Leeds – Headingley Methodist
07 MAY: Bolton – the Dog & Partridge
08 MAY: Edinburgh – Sneaky Pete’s
10 MAY: Aberdeen – Cafe Drummond
11 MAY: Glasgow – the Bloc
12 MAY: Inverness – Mad Hatters
13 MAY: Lancaster – Yorkshire House
17 MAY: London – Buffalo Bar
20 MAY: Newcastle – TBA
21 MAY: Manchester – the Castle Hotel
26 MAY: Preston – the Mad Ferret
27 MAY: Nottingham – TBA
28 May: Derby – TBA
29 MAY: Northampton – Labour Club
30 MAY: Brighton – the Druids Arms
01 JUNE: Bristol – Mother’s Ruin
02 JUNE: Southampton – Hampton’s Bar
03 JUNE: London – TBA
04 JUNE: Halifax – Bar Up
05 JUNE: Leeds – Brudenell Social Club
02 JULY: Reading – Doubledotdash! Festival
12 AUGUST: Skipton – Beacons Festival

Selected press quotes:

“Crawling around amid a tangled mass of wires he leaps from one instrument to the next with the dexterity of a one man Mogwai.” Loud & Quiet
“Dreamy anti-folk with layers of distortion and feedback … well and truly mind-blowing.” Clash Magazine
“Jeff T. Smith (a.k.a. Juffage) is changing the face of experimental music as we know it.” – Emily Rippe, Toledo City Paper
“You don’t often find a solo artist as original as Chicago-born Juffage.” – Alex Taylor, Vibrations Magazine