Arising from the ashes of The Coldspoon Conspiracy in 2009, Jogging quickly distinguished themselves from the ranks of angry lads with guitars by virtue of the complex nature of their music and the skill and vitriolic conviction with which it’s played. The formula here remains essentially the same as on their debut record. This is not a bad thing; Minutes was an impressively well-constructed album, balancing aggression and melody remarkably well. Guitar and bass bob and weave around each other, every now and again crashing into each other like the two colourful cryptids on the cover of the record, underpinned by Peter Lee beating the shit out of his drums with admirable ferocity.
The production here has improved considerably, with every every note and growl coming through crystal clear courtesy of the work of post-hardcore wunderkind Chris Common, former drummer with These Arms Are Snakes.
An unfortunate tendency of bands in the milieu of post-hardcore/math rock/whatever you want to call it is the prioritising of guitar wankery over decent songwriting. Jogging’s musicianship, while intricate, rarely ventures into showmanship. ‘Good Gold’, for example, is almost minimalistic in the context of the surrounding tracks, the aural equivalent of a friendly lumbering juggernaut, like The Iron Giant before he goes mental and starts shooting lasers at people. Bludgeoning and inspiring in equal measure, Take Courage further cements Jogging’s credentials as an inexorable force in the Irish music scene.
– Ivan Deasy
Take Courage is released on Friday, August 24th by Out On A Limb with a launch party in Whelan’s the following night. You can stream the album now from the Jogging Bandcamp:
