Jape takes a leap into the future with nod to the past

For 20 years, Jape have been one of the most revered and influential alternative music acts in Ireland. What was once a side-project for the Redneck Manifesto bass player Richie Egan is, to date, the only band to have earned two Choice Prize Album of the Year awards.

Among a host of experimental records and ambitious live performances are songs like Floating and The Oldest Mind, forever etched into the pantheon of DIY, underground tracks produced on this island.

Now Jape are set to release their sixth full-length studio album, Endless Thread, on Friday, September 29 – and complementing its launch is an Irish tour that finishes in Galway’s Róisín Dubh on Sunday November 5.

The LP takes inspiration from the inventive solo records of the 1970s á la John Cale, Judee Sill and Paul McCartney. It represents a return to some of the songwriting inclinations that Richie has, at times, shied away from.

Tracks like Heal These Wounds, a single that arrives on July 18, embrace melody and pop sensibilities in a way that many may consider reminiscent of his earlier material.

“I don’t know how it is for other artists but for me, when I was younger, I’d find something I was good at and then, for some reason, I’d try to do other stuff,” Richie explains.

“I’ve been long enough at it now that I’ve come back around to the idea that I might just be a pop songwriter. I listen to a lot of experimental music, and I love it, but for some reason whenever I write tunes, they come out quite melodic. I thought for this record I’d face that rather than trying to disguise it.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.