JEEN is gearing up to release her next album, Gold Control, on February 2, 2024. Today, she shares the third single “Hold My Head Up Higher” which sees JEEN joining creative forces once again with long-time collaborator and Canadian indie musician Ian Blurton who has taken on the role of co-producer for JEEN’s last five albums. Their strength in working together shines on this track, its swirling chorus shimmers along the flesh and induces frisson with ease.
“This is the second co-write/feature that Ian and I have done in the past couple years,” JEEN elaborates. “When we were in pre-production for Gold Control, Ian and I bounced an idea he had back and forth for a couple weeks long-distance before really solidifying the song in studio rehearsals. It’s always fun collaborating with Ian, so I’m really happy we got the chance to do it again on this album.”
Gold Control is hazy, heady, hedonistic and hopeful. The luminous ten tracker is her fourth album this decade, gliding along the same trajectory as its predecessors while maintaining its own identity. Grunge. Garage. Psych-rock. Punk. Tinges of Shoegaze. Her influences continue to shine as she crafts them into her own vehicle with ease. Despite the lyric “It’s all I got inside me,” lead single“Just Shadows” is a firm foot forward, its quick frantic pace bouncing along and transporting the listener to those communal sweaty nights in dodgy body-packed underground clubs with the band five feet away making all feel as one. The lyrically confrontational“Making Me Mad” bounds along proudly with two fingers firmly up and an assured sense of one’s older self. More information will be shared about Gold Control in the coming months.