Single review: The Just Joans – Your Pain Is A Joke Next To Mines EP
With ‘Your Pain Is A Joke Next To Mines’ coming as a 3” CD beautifully packaged in little brown envelope with a handmade booklet, The Just Joans are the personification of twee pop. This, their fourth EP, is full of witty, acerbic and angsty lyrics sung in broad Lanarkshire accents, and when it comes to singing I’m a sucker for regional accents!
Containing a generous 7 tracks and coming in at 20 minutes it’s more of a mini LP than an EP. There’s no bad songs but highlights include ‘Boyracer (baby’s a)’ their answer to the Shangri-Las ‘Leader of The Pack’, and ‘Wee Helen Got Married’ a song about underachieving. The best, and funniest, song though is the brilliant ‘Stuart Has A Dirty Book’ which juxtapose beautifully the teenage preoccupation with masturbation and catholic guilt; ‘struggling with the word of god/a hand on my bible, a hand on my knob’.
As gorgeous as its packaging, ‘Your Pain Is A Joke Next To Mines’ is a great EP, the only shame is that with both male and female vocals they didn’t record a duet, nonetheless you best get a copy quick, with only 300 available I don’t think they’re going to be around very long! 4/5
Mark Cousens
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