Not one but two EPs from Jo Bartlett came out in September, both of which i'll be buying in October's imminent Bandcamp Friday (3rd).
In reverse order, first up is The River Or The Road, four songs recorded with Neil Haydock (Submarine). A cyberspace collaboration in June this year, files swapped in June, "mixed and tweaked" by Jo then released three months later.
Lead vocals by Jo throughout, and in keeping with the vibe of her 2024 album Ghost Tapes 1 To 9, which I loved (and still do). This time though, the songs with a pastoral, acoustic feel that, with Neil's vocal and musical elements, lends a warmth to the offset the chill of oncoming Autumn.
Opening song Frozen In Time comes with a promo "made up of videos from the Green Man Festival 2007" that Jo found on You Tube, and all four songs are worth the purchase price. EP closer Innocence left a particularly deep impression on me.
The September To September EP is another four-tracker. Three of the songs have been out before - These Simple Things and Time And Time And Again (both April 2025) and Before The Police Car (October 2024) - however, this is the first time that they have been available to buy.
Completing the EP is The Story Of The Buzz Club, the soundtrack to a short film that Jo was commissioned to make for a project called the Aldershot Mix Tape, which premiered at the West End Centre in Aldershot on 13th September.
The Buzz Club was organised by Jo and Danny Hagan and held at the West End Centre. The list of bands that made a stop in Aldershot to play at the club in the 1990s makes for eye-widening reading: Blur, Cornershop, Dodgy, Elastica, Happy Mondays, Manic Street Preachers, Primal Scream, Spiritualized, Suede, That Petrol Emotion, The Beautiful South, The Charlatans, The Stone Roses, and many more.
You can watch The Story Of The Buzz Club on You Tube, whilst the soundtrack provides the opener for the September To September EP.
Both EPs recommended, both in my Bandcamp Friday shopping bag.
