Live Review: FEATURE ARTIST: JINJA SAFARI

In the wake of last week's official Splendour in the Grass line-up announcement, there was bound to be a lot of very excited boys and girls and just as many broken hearts. Who could really forget last year’s contentious upset over Kanye West – Mr. My Presence is a Present himself – headlining?

Luckily, Splendour seems to have returned to its roots in every sense of the word, returning not just to its former home in Byron Bay but to a line-up filled with Aussie favourites and, more importantly, with some exciting up-and-comers.

I’m primarily talking about the sensational “cosmic pop safari” (I stole that from BBC1 but if you don’t tell, I won’t) five some JINJA SAFARI who announced on the 18^th of April that they’ve begun production on their hotly anticipated debut album – follow up to 2011’s celebrated EP Locked by Land. It’s due out sometime in the winter which means an opportunity for you wild-hearted emphatic sounds warm you from the inside out, leaving you as toasty warm as a sunbaking agama lizard. (Google it – they’re lizards that kind of look like Spiderman and do push-ups!)

Turns out, that infectious sound is influenced by the infectious personalities of the band members themselves. In case you’ve been pulling an agama lizard on a rock in the wilderness somewhere and don’t already know, two of the bands members go by the sweet nicknames Nugget and Citizen respectively. Nugget and Citizen, guys! More objectively, they’ve been credited as having one of the most encapsulating, dynamic live shows around. Just as well for them, because their touring schedule’s about to get cray-cray...

Along with the announcement of their debut album, comes news that Jinja has signed with international booking agency The Agency Group, and joined a global family that includes fellow Australian super-act Gotye and international sensation Foster the People.

They’re already down to play Great Escape in the UK, and even more remarkably, Bestival alongside Sigur Ros, The xx and Stevie freakin’ Wonder.

And last Thursday morning, there they were on the Splendour line-up, wedged between Bertie Blackman and Blue King Brown. If you’re keen to get in touch with your inner Lost Boy – or haven’t already – with some “never-grow-up” music before you hit up Byron, be sure to check the official lineup HERE.

And, let’s be honest here – who couldn’t love a group named for the East-African township of Jinja where founding member Marcus Azon travelled in late 2011 – his grandmother’s home? What heartless Scrooge would turn away from a band of five self-described “ratbags”? And, more prudently: a group with a press release featuring the words “djembe-wielding, monkey-callin’ percussionist Alister ‘Nugget’ Roach”?  Impossible...

Visit their Facebook and fall in love.

Words by Cheryl Billman

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