Left to right: Georgia wears DIOR jacket. Tyler wears MARNI suit and DION LEE shirt.

Georgia Ellery is sweating in the backyard of some dusty house show in Santa Barbara. Taylor Skye is holding a guitar that he may or may not throw off of the roof. I’m holding a red Solo cup full of a mysteriously viscous liquid. It sounds like someone just puked behind me. At least, based solely on their name, this is how, weeks before the real thing, I imagined a show might play out with UK duo, Jockstrap. “I think it came from a heavy metal name,” Georgia tells me, when asked about the band’s moniker, adding that the “effect is that it doesn’t sound or have anything to do with our music, or what we do.” How out of the know I was. How wrong I was to assume it’d sound, or feel, anything like those silly things worn to protect one’s genitals during sporty gameplay. Indeed, the duo’s transportive, wonky-pop feels entirely of the opposite.

Left to right: Georgia wears AMI PARIS jacket and top. Tyler wears DIOR MEN jacket and shirt.

Georgia and Taylor met at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2016, although they didn’t form Jockstrap until 2017. Watching one another from afar, the two eventually convened and began experimenting in tandem, an experiment that has swollen with credibility in recent seasons, from top-spotting on major lists of radio influence, to soundtracking Parisian runway shows for powerhouses Chanel and Stella McCartney. “It kind of happened remotely because Georgia made a demo and sent it to me, and I took it over at home over the summer,” recalls Taylor on the fortuitous union, continuing, “There were no instructions. We were just thinking, ‘Should we try something out’?” And from that first (unreleased) song—for which the duo also made a video—everything clicked.

Left to right: Tyler wears MARNI suit, DION LEE shirt, and DIOR MEN shoes. Georgia wears DIOR jacket, top, and shorts and SCHUTZ shoes.

\Since meeting at Guildhall, the duo has released two EPs: Love Is the Key to the City in 2018, and Wicked City in 2020. Currently, Jockstrap is gearing up to release their debut album, I Love You Jennifer B, via Rough Trade Records. And who is Jennifer B? Is she real? “She’s real alright,” says Georgia. Taylor explains further, “She is, I think, for us, a different person on different days.” Georgia then continues, riffing, “Sometimes she’s shit, sometimes she’s not. Sometimes she’s in the UK, sometimes she’s in New York.” Wherever, whoever Jennifer B is, this love feels tenuous.

Left to right: Tyler wears GUCCI jacket and 8 BY YOOX shirt and pants. Georgia wears MARNI jacket and DION LEE dress and top. 

The first single off of I Love You Jennifer B, “Concrete Over Water,” is an expansive introduction, coming in at over six minutes. Between Georgia’s gentle, pining lyrics, Taylor interjects with sharp electronic jabs and kicks. It’s a delicious taste of what I Love You Jennifer B would offer. Sweeping, enveloping, and as Georgia has said, ambitious. “Georgia started writing different sorts of songs… and they were a lot longer, at least initially. So it began a slightly different process working on music,” recalls Taylor. He continues, “The songs feel like they go to more places.” Georgia adds, “For every set of our EPs that we’ve released, we’ve been naturally into different sorts of music at that point, and when we make music as Jockstrap, when those influences collide, is the cool bit.”

Left to right: Tyler wears AMI PARIS sweater and pants and 8 BY YOOX undershirt. Georgia wears MIU MIU dress and stylist’s own earrings and ring.

Influences are where Jockstrap thrive and dually flip the script. For Georgia, some of these influences are yacht rock, old classic albums, and for Taylor, the reference is emo rap and 50s jazz, among numerous others. If you listen close enough, maybe you can hear the spirit of Kenny Loggins meander throughout the 10 tracks of I Love You Jennifer B? So, where is Jennifer B now? “At the moment, she’s in Germany,” says Taylor resolutely. I hope Jennifer B is doing well, and it seems, despite the ups and downs—the “shit” and “not shit”—that Georgia and Taylor hope she’s doing well, too. More than anything, I hope she doesn’t find her sh

Left to right: Georgia wears AMI PARIS jacket, top, and skirt and SCHUTZ shoes. Tyler wears DIOR MEN jacket, shorts, socks, and shoes.

Photographed by Alvin Kean Wong Styled by Anissa Silvas Hair/Makeup: Avery Golson Styling Assistant: Stephani Fohrman-Jacobson Written by Nate Rynaski

1418 N Highland Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90028   © Flaunt Magazine 2017