In the present their sound very much resonates with a new wave of musicians keen to redefine the origins and context of ‘genre’. New mutations and overlap emerge at a faster rate due to the ever ominous presence of global and social media. Yet for some there is as much steer to be found in the music of the past.

Jabu are a group from Bristol made up of Jasmine Butt, Alex Rendall and Amos Childs. Their music is rough and abstract, their records often scrapbook or collage like based upon sketches, rough drafts and loose concepts. This level of improvisation lends themself well to experimentation and the pursuit of new ideas. They hold a similar ideology to that of A.R. Kane of the past.

We invited them to touch base…

Jabu: There’s lots of visual artists who have famously used dreams for inspiration. Was that something you were aware of when you started to use ‘dream-pop’ as a descriptor for your music? What’s your relationship with sleeping and dreaming like now?

Rudy (A.R. Kane): Dali posters were everywhere when I was a kid and during infant school I was sickly and stayed home often, reading one of the few books we had, Reader’s Digest ‘People and Personality’, that introduced ideas of dream symbolism from Jung and Freud. I didn’t understand much of it but was fascinated. Later I read Man and His Symbols. We chose Dream Pop because we rejected other peoples labels of convenience and it was a good fit, considering the influence dreaming and dream-like states had on our approach to composition and production. I don’t sleep well. Often waking in the early hours, reading or writing, then falling back to sleep in the morning – that does seem to stimulate very vivid dreams. I don’t use dreams as inspiration anymore though.

For me, in Jabu there is something reminiscent of the early 80’s electronic bands like Japan, early Human League, Bowie’s Low/Heroes era, trickles of 4AD TMC era. Are these influences of yours? What are your big influences?

Al (Jabu): My influences when it comes to singing mostly came through my mum and the stuff she was listening to when she was a teenager, lots of popular funk/soul tunes from artists like Luther Vandross, Mary Jane Girls etc. Also my first attempts at actually singing out loud was me trying to mimic some of the big band vocalists from the swing/jazz era like Bobby Darin, Lou Rawls and guys like that. A recent review described some of my vocals as ’shyly crooning’ and I really rate that. I loved old school crooners growing up.

Jas (Jabu): Like Al, most of my music influence came from my mum. Al’s mum grew up in Birmingham going to the blues parties there, and my mum was in Wolverhampton, and was more involved in the punk scene, hanging out with bands like Weapon of Peace. I did grow up hearing my mum play a lot of Human League and she got me some Bowie CDs when I was younger. I think we all have really different starting points when it comes to musical influences, which we’ve always found interesting when putting radio shows together and writing.

Al (Jabu): I feel like the exposure to different cultural expressions is an integral part of a person’s experience when they come from an immigrant background like myself (my mother’s side is Antiguan). The melding of styles that can occur when you’re taking from so many different influences can be very interesting. Do you feel that genre existed for you during your songwriting or did that feel put upon you by others? Was the idea of genre important to you at all?

Rudy (A.R. Kane): Like you, I only know what it means to be brought up in a multi-race, multi-cultural context. I always considered it a healthier backdrop for the development of an individual – but I am biased and I am talking relative to what was the majority norm; 1960’s/1970’s white, working class, East London – it was pretty rough and dreary, chauvinistic, close-minded. The influx of West Indians and Irish shook that up as fun cannot be denied, so the cultural mix began. I was very aware of genre – it was way more clear-cut then; reggae or soul or rock – choose your tribe. There was little cross-over, except they were chucked together in the pop charts, eventually cross-pollinating and creating the roots of the happy mess we enjoy today. I was a soulboy, Alex in a reggae sound system. We enjoyed new wave and post-punk together, then John Peel’s eclectic trip. We hung out on each other’s scenes because we were very close friends, and eventually that blending became the core to our music.

Jabu: Coming out of 14 years of the Tories, recession, austerity etc, makes us think of the environment you were first working through in the Thatcher years, ‘Baby Milk Snatcher’ etc. We were all born in ‘90-‘91 so right at the end of her ‘reign’, reading about it it seems like people talk about it in an almost romantic way now but what was it like at the time was there any optimism about or just general dread?

Rudy (A.R. Kane): There are different Englands. It depends on who you are, what you are born into, happy and not-so-happy accidents, and so on. My England was what it was, and Thatcher’s ideology was not something that stood up for me and mine. Left-wing by necessity, being in a minority, and also left-wing creatively, because the right-wingers didn’t seem to have a creative streak, an imagination – they were – and still are – phobic. Stiffs. Humourless. I have not met a right-winger with an original idea – just slogans and lies, borne out of fear of…you name it. Where’s the love? Our optimism was born from punk, reggae and soul as cultural shields and swords – two fingers to the establishment – this is our fucking world. The explosion of musical styles in the early ’80’s was mind-blowing – it felt like there was a force for good.

Would you say your music is experimental?

Amos (Jabu): I always think our stuff is quite poppy to be honest, I think maybe the average person that just listens to the radio would hear more of the weird stuff in our music and think it was experimental or arty or something, but I guess it depends what you’re listening to. I’m hearing these melodic lines Al or Jas are doing and other people are just hearing the loud ground hum or how I’ve mixed it really badly or whatever and it signifies ‘experimental’ or something similar to them.

Jas (Jabu): Maybe when we’re at our most experimental it’s when we’ve stumbled on something by accident in the studio and we all got something from it, like pushing the noise a bit further to try to build on the emotions in the track. We’re mainly interested in writing good songs, but still love the raw sounds of well-worn equipment and immediate/rough recording processes. But I don’t think that’s all part of our plan or aesthetic, it’s almost just a side effect.

Amos (Jabu): I’ve only ever written music on what you could maybe call ‘background drugs’: alcohol, (prescription) pills, hash – so always a (relatively) normal headspace (pos a little looser), but I get the impression you were using LSD around the time of ’69’ – were you actually writing on LSD and does that link back to the dream thing for you – liminal headspaces etc? What was the process of getting something down like? I can imagine even turning the tape machine on could’ve taken some time.

Rudy (A.R. Kane): For a few years I used psychedelics. I mixed things up with meditation and yoga, philosophy and mysticism. I wanted to go out there, to discover my inner world and the true nature of existence. No kidding, I just said that! The Dreaming was also part of the same drive – what am I? What can the human mind achieve? I never tried to create music on drugs. I might burn a spliff and play around a bit, sometimes get good ideas, but in the studio it was clear-headed, because as you point out, turning on the tape machine could get weird. When we’d finish a mix we’d kick back with a spliff and enjoy our handiwork. Doing music is the trippiest drug. All parts of the self can get involved, play a part, get you high.

There is a solemnity to some of your songs, possibly better described as meditative – where does that come from?

Amos (Jabu): I think for me, I really started taking music seriously after my dad died. I was finding a lot of comfort in other people’s music and I liked the (possibly grandiose) idea that I could make something that might make someone else feel a bit better at whatever time if they were going through something. I think having that as a jumping off point for me definitely meant a lot of stuff ending up with a kind of solemn/meditative vibe to it.

Rudy (A.R. Kane): Are you influenced by literature at all?

Al (Jabu): The poetry I’ve read over the last 6-7 years has informed my writing a great deal. A (Amos) showed me this book by a Czech poet called Miroslaw Holub called ‘Vanishing Lung Syndrome’ and it pushed me to start writing my own stuff and that process changed how I saw songwriting in terms of the economy of language or trying to say more with less, before that my writing was quite dense and I had a more strict rhythmic code I’d have to stick to to feel good about the end result but nowadays I don’t feel so restricted.

Amos (Jabu): I wanted to ask you about the song ‘Water’ it’s one of my favourites from you (and in general) – would love to hear anything you can say about how it came about and anything else about that time in the band’s career in general – feels quite different to ’69’ and that sound to me.

Rudy (A.R. Kane): We were based in California to put together the Americana compilation for David Byrne’s label, Luaka Bop. We decided to make a new song for the compilation – something that has some of the Cal vibe – working with local musicians. I originally wrote the Cello piece and had a vocal phrase in that style I like – a bit Chris Montez, a bit Scratch, a bit Strummer…pushing against the cello phrasing – Alex took it and wrote the full lyric. We wanted it to sound liquid and shiny – the scintillating light in the Sierra foothills, the ocean…you know the kind of vibe. Also, remember, between ‘sixty nine’ and ‘Water’ was the ‘i’ LP. It was lighter than our previous works. I think the London edge was gone, replaced by seabreeze and the moment.

Jabu: What are you excited about at the moment, gear, ways of working etc

Rudy (A.R. Kane): I switched out the laptop and control surface for an Ableton Push 3 standalone. It was just practical, easier to transport, set up etc. What I never expected was the fun I’d have playing with it as an instrument. Its MPE functionality is radical. I still love to play with echoes and reverbs – they have so many dimensions to them now that it’s hard to scratch the surface. Walrus, Strymon and Boss are my choices. I rediscovered Boss pedals 80’s style in a dusted off Roland GP 8 I have had forever – and I have started playing with that again. I enjoy working with Maggie (vocals) and Budgie (clarinet) – we are developing a new sound. It’s pretty unique I think. At times it is very moving. What tech do you favour?

Amos (Jabu): A lot of it is begged/borrowed/inherited to be honest, nothing too fancy. There seems to be some ‘uncool’ periods of gear where you can pick up some pretty good rack mount bits or whatever for pretty cheap, so I’ve got a few of them. Midiverb 2 is on pretty much everything we made on that album, I got that one cheap and I like the MBV connection (we used a different preset though, ha).

Jas (Jabu): My work outside the band is pretty tech-heavy, and I’ve always liked that Jabu is a bit of a respite from that feeling that there is always something more to get your hands on. We had a sea change in our set up a couple of years ago, but I can’t see us changing much again in the coming years. We’ve stuck with the same vocal fx since 2018. Al and I both just use a Bugbrand PT Delay. It’s really close to my heart cause I was working for Tom Bugs (Bugbrand) building his synths and fx for a few years when I’d just joined Jabu. It was a beautiful time in my life. I used to work on Nine Tree Hill in Bristol, coming up with lyrics when I was soldering. Bugs encouraged me to look out the window to ‘stretch my eyes’. I remember feeling that my life was starting to make sense, just sinking all my time into music and building stuff so that other people could make music. I owe a lot to Bugs, having that job and that headspace definitely changed things around for me.

Jabu: We know your son makes music now too, does that influence your writing too?

Rudy (A.R. Kane): Not so much influence but he has worked on beats for me and recently remixed Baby Milk Snatcher in a broken Beat style. He’s way better a producer than I am – I wish I had his patience and application. I’m a roughneck in comparison.

What is the best, new LP that I should get?

Al (Jabu): Schoolboy Q ‘Blue Lips’

Amos (Jabu): Not an LP but I’ve been listening to a guy called Niontay a lot lately after our mate Jack (Manonmars) put me onto him. Also it’s not strictly ’new, new’ (2022) but the Birthmark record on Cold Light is definitely worth checking.

Jas (Jabu): A handful of artists I really trust and am always keeping an eye out for new releases are Rat Heart/ Rat Heart Ensemble, Voice Actor, Joanne Robertson, Cindy Lee, Loopsel.

Rudy (A.R. Kane): What is the best, old LP that I should get?

Al (Jabu): The Unseen by Quasimoto. One of the best hip hop albums ever made in my opinion, so sprawling and immersive, it’s the type of record you experience in a different way every time you hear it.

Jas (Jabu): An LP I keep coming back to is ‘Misa Criolla Misa Flamenca’. It was recorded in the 60s and is a conversation between Argentine folk and catholic choral music, recorded in a huge space. It sounds incredible, it’s like a gut punch every time I listen to it.

Amos (Jabu): Scientist & Prince Jammy ‘Dub Landing Vol.1’. I never really get tired of this record, it’s been with me through some very good and some very bad times, feels really fluid too, like it shifts every time I come back to it.

Rudy (A.R. Kane): Why invite us to play with you? What connection do you see, if any?

Amos (Jabu): Without sounding too cheesy I see AR Kane as the jumping off point for a lot of kind of fringe, uncategorisable music that exists now. I remember a friend of ours (Miles – BKV Industrial) telling us about your music and then getting home and listening and it felt like it was tapping into all of these reference points and experiences I already had, in a way that made me feel like I should have always known about it, and was almost a bit pissed off I was only getting to hear it then.

Jas (Jabu): Yeah I remember it felt like music that had only just been released, it felt totally new at the same time as embodying a lot of the influences and emotions that we’d been stewing in, which was a strange feeling.

Rudy (A.R. Kane): When are we gonna finish that collaboration?

Jabu: Soon!

A.R. Kane’s compilation ‘Up Home Collected’ is out 11th September on Rocket Girl.

Jabu’s new album ‘A Soft and Gatherable Star’ is out 18th October on Do You Have Peace?

Catch both in London HERE.