With a slow, purposeful start, Between The Lines gently enters my ears with JoBee’s distinctive, cinematic vocal performance. With an earthly quality, her voice strikes me as a folksy imagining of the theatricality of a Björk or Róisín Murphy performance.
Born in the small town Lubartow, in eastern Poland, JoBee started her musical journey, at the age of 15, as the lead in a punk group. Taking inspiration from Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Polish jazz and pop-rock, she saw her career take another step in 2008, when she was invited to perform live in Belgium on FM Brussels, leading to her making a career there.
Against her striking vocal, JoBee’s performance on Between The Lines is complimented by gentle, organic sounding instrumentation. Drums hit, pause, stagger and catch themselves in a naturalistic performance that manages to convey the sound of plant growth, animals and natural ecosystems.
Whilst Between The Lines has an earthy feel, it combines this with a starstruck, astral atmosphere. The song is ultimately a love song, and JoBee’s lyrics, ‘read between the lines, my messages from the sky’, are a deliberate invitation to experience and embrace a cosmic form of love.