Jasmine and The Jack Stafford Foundation

Jasmine and the Jack Stafford Foundation, the longest duo name in pop, is Jasmine Wynants and Jack Stafford. They met at the launch of the Jack Stafford Foundation’s first album, Exes, in Casa Roso in the bohemian heaven of Amsterdam. One thing led to another, and two years later they released an album together called Long Live Love. Leonard Cohen once told Lou Reed that “all great works are done in the absence of a caress”, but he had never listened to Long Live Love. It’s been described as a modern neo-folk masterpiece. A 16-track piece with 12 different musicians and instruments, including church organ, harp, banjo, accordion and many more.

They have toured the album ever since, supporting names like Supergrass, the Veils, and the Rakes and touring the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France, the UK and the US. They have performed together over 500 times and played on major radio stations and MTV across Europe.

Live they are completely different and utterly engaging, whether singing to each other in a ballad, or screaming out a blues-rock jam. While many other singer-songwriters will have you reaching for your ipod after two or three songs, the sound and song-style continuously changes, in a fluid set born out of performing hundreds of gigs together. With two voices, two songwriters and many different styles and instruments they are always intriguing.

There’s promise to be one of the great pop-partnerships, with each bringing something special to the mix. Jasmine (born in Belgium and raised in Singapore) boasts the clearest voice in pop, swinging percussion on her cajon, trumpet and guitar. Jack (originally from near Cambridge in England, now living in Amsterdam for 8 years) also sings and plays the acoustic guitar. They share the songwriting duties. It’s a sound that is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

Jack and Jasmine are difficult to classify. With their dynamic sound, percussion and harmonies they are more than just singer-songwriters, but not yet a band. Their sound has elements of British pop, indie-folk and even bluegrass. While the black humour in the lyrics and satirical content can make it more comedy show than a musical show at times.

After the epic Long Live Love, they went back to basics for their next record. Completely basic. Tall Folks from Little Big Town was recorded on an ipod with a small mono-mic in their apartment in Amsterdam. The highly-compressed sound is reminiscent of Daniel Johnston or Nick Drake. The songs were equally quirky, all about the characters they met in Amsterdam. The album was available free to download and launched at a special concert in Paradiso, during which they dressed up as the characters from the songs (the lonely stoner, the postman, the gay, the bondage couple) changing costumes in a flash between each song.

Then last year, as a Christmas gift to their fans, the duo collaborated with choir conductor and pianist Enrique Lopez-Corton to record an 8 track EP of David Bowie covers they called “Starman”. Beautifully minimalist with just the piano and their vocals, this project was an ode to one of the duo’s favourite musicians.

Jack and Jasmine are currently working on their third album together, provisionally titled ‘Days of Joy’. As always, every album has a theme, and this one is a slice of everyday life, with songs about work and then being unemployed, the apartment, daytime TV, etc. It promises to be another epic production, and the band is currently selecting the right producer to bring it to life.