Jowe Head - Screeches, Scribbles, and Scrawls

Shipping / Release Date: 08/05/2022

Screeches, Scribbles, and Scrawls is a new multi-media project by British artist Jowe Head.  Fundamental to the London art rock scene, Jowe has a dizzying discography as bandleader of The Palookas, The Househunters, Angel Racing Food, Infernal Contraption, Eleventh Hour Adventists, and Jowe Head and the Demi-Monde, among others.  His breakout in the music scene came in the early 1970s when he, and close friends Nikki Sudden and Epic Soundtracks, formed Swell Maps, a pivotal group that would come to influence the sound and scene immeasurably.  In the eighties, Jowe would begin a decade-long stint with the historic post-punk band Television Personalities.  All the while, Jowe has been feverishly prolific as a visual artist, cartoonist, and writer, as this new collection exemplifies.  The new release includes contributions from the likes of Catherine Gerbrands, Miss Roberts, and Cos Chapman. 

From the opening moments of the 13-track LP, Jowe’s Screeches bellow in raspy glory, telling a tale of maritime adventure, with characteristic existential musings throughout on “Big Fish.”  From there, chaos, mystery, and introspective emotion unfold to paint a picture of an artist who has lived a storied life on the cutting edge of underground culture.

Gaye Black’s liner notes for Screeches, Scribbles, and Scrawls illustrate Jowe’s mind-boggling creativity, describing a visit to his studio space, which appears bursting at the seams with tapes, instruments, drawings, paintings, and inventions.  Conceiving of Jowe Head not only as a musician, artist, writer, and general purveyor of culture, but as an inventor, seems fitting for this particular record and accompanying 50+ page book of drawings and words.  He invents his own world of sound with droning hand-made instruments, puzzling melodic experiments, unpredictable rhythmic motifs, while maintaining his distinct rock n roll attitude and pop music vocabulary.  He invents a world of characters, creatures, and situations all his own in the stories of his songs, imagined in form with the illustrated lyrics featured in the book.  This comprehensive release covers a remarkably expansive map of the world that Jowe Head has to offer.

Screeches, Scribbles, and Scrawls is presented by ORG Music, Steady Hand Records, and Nick Flessa.