GeeJay have a humble origin story. Vocalist Gina Jane and producer, pianist and saxophonist Jacob Lobo formed the band while working together as baristas at Music and Beans coffee shop in Haringey, north London. They went from jamming on the cafe’s piano to playing at Love Supreme in 2019.
Blending soul, jazz, R&B, hip-hop and pop, GeeJay’s sound is a bright and dazzling thing, illustrated by their cover of Sweet Female Attitude’s 2000 track Flowers. Weaving through Lobo’s airy and cinematic keys, Jane’s voice has a deep, expansive tone that just keeps on stretching. The duo’s fresh yet nostalgic take turns this well-known, deeply cherished club classic into something unrecognisably illuminating.
Their 2019 EP City features atmospheric songs that you can imagine soundtracking a film about young love in a smoky metropolis. The seamless fusing of hip-hop beats with vintage jazz chords hits a sweet spot too, and perhaps that’s why they’re the only unknown act to appear on Fearne Cotton’s new Happy Place album (Decca).
Made jobless during the pandemic, Jane and Lobo began working as customer service advisors helping to supply frozen food to the elderly, vulnerable and the NHS. The experience of interacting with people desperate for conversation is the inspiration behind the single that’s ended up on Cotton’s Happy Place – it’s called Lose My Mind.
