Jane Doe Ensemble

Jane Doe Ensemble’s debut LP, “The Corruption of What Cheer?” is a work of collaboration despite isolation, catharsis over trauma, and fun over form. The Janes - Efrem Czajkowski, Wren Krisztin, and Aaron Batley - united shortly after the 2016 election, and that mood of perseverance and expression in the face of a lamentable world can be heard in the brash, bombastic tones of this record.

Bringing together influences from classic punk to contemporary electronica to the avant-garde, from UK to US and beyond, the driving toms, whirling keyboards, and jangly guitar lines give electric life to confessional, contemplative lyrics that often feel like a peek into the writer’s diary. The last few years of quarantine saw these artists honing their craft in late night practice sessions, lengthy group phone calls, and bedrooms separated by state lines.

March 2020 saw the release of their 7” Pink Liquor/Respect, as well as a busy slate of live shows dashed out as live music went into hibernation. Far from losing the momentum of that release, and their previous, 2018’s Verite Rip, it can be heard in What Cheer. JDE manages to have it both ways: an enthusiastic, zealous single-day recording followed by months of loving, careful bedroom mixing culminates in a record that is both manic and meticulous.

The Corruption of What Cheer? invites the listener to a space, a room, a show, where we can be ourselves and say what we mean, where feeling our emotions out loud liberates us from the weight of them.

Written by July Brown.

Additional Reviews

“A solid soundtrack to this afternoon’s mail.” — Ian Mackaye, Dischord Records

“You’re plugging your keyboard into the wrong amp.” — Sound Guy, Brooklyn