Dojo is the debut album by Jouis, Brighton based graduates of the local BIMM music school (the name is a French word that translates roughly to “High enjoyment”, apparently). A quintet when the album was recorded in 2015, and now a trio. It is a wholly undiscovered gem of a record, full of immersive, laid back, progressive vibes, and probably my favorite album of 2016.
I first encountered JOUIS purely by accident. Taken by a friend to watch a Syd Arthur gig at the Komedia in Brighton, JOUIS were the support band. I was completely blown away. Along with around just 50 other people I experienced one of my most enjoyable gigs of recent years. I immediately went online to find out more and discovered that they’d recently released this album which soon found an almost permanent place on my regular playlist. Since then I’ve discovered that several of my acquaintances know them personally, so I’ve started to feel a slight one-degree-of-separation connection with them. It’s so nice in any case that one of my favorite bands are both local and current.
This is a record you can lose yourself in. It’s mostly a collection of extended instrumental arrangements, with much light and shade and plenty of space to let the music evolve. Complex and jazzy and very much in the Canterbury progressive rock tradition, Camel and Caravan coming especially to mind. The vocals, are never the focus of the arrangements but act more as an additional instrument. Crosby, Stills and Nash-esque in the close vocal harmonies. I love the lyrics, lots of references to cosmology, planets and quantum theory.
The production is very nicely done, although sometimes a little muddy in the low end. The recordings were all done live apparently, and this probably adds to the very interactive group feel. All five instrumentalists have their space. The musicianship is excellent throughout. I especially like Adam Johnson’s delicate jazzy drumming; he has a really beautiful touch on the cymbals and he’s expertly accompanied by Joe Woodham on bass. The lead guitar playing is also a wonderful lesson in how to put melody front and centre, it’s often the key musical element of the songs and wholly free of pentatonic blues noodling. Sadly the guitarist has now left the band though - moved to Oxford for some odd reason. The Rhodes electric piano is one of my favorite sounds and here provides the main harmonic content. Beautifully played, it suits the music and the vibe perfectly.
It’s hard to pick out favorite tracks on this record. It needs to be listened to as a whole and there’s nothing that bores that you’d want to skip. I suppose if you twisted my arm, I’d single out Loop as the one you should probably listen to first if you just wanted to get a quick taste of of what this is all about. It’s got a lovely uplifting melodic hook. New Moon comes a very close second with probably the most engaging vocals on the record. The only departure from the overall five piece sound is Rain, an acoustic guitar song and the only place where you hear a single vocalist. No idea which of them it is.
It’s been far too long since Dojo’s release, but there is now much talk of a follow up by the new three piece. I’m really looking forward to it. Beautiful music like this should be more successful. More of the world needs to hear Jouis.