Jane In Space - Jane In Space

Jane In Space are a New York-based outfit around whom there has been much buzz, despite the fact that they just released their debut self-titled album on August 19. The electro/emo/industrial trio have been gearing up for this album for quite a while, releasing one-off tracks on their Soundcloud page since 2014. What really got the buzz going, however, was the news that legendary industrial and alt producer Tom Baker would be mastering the album. Baker has worked with such illustrious indie bands as the Deftones, Nine Inch Nails and Wolfmother, so his name on the project certainly gave credence to Jane In Space’s work.

Baker’s flawless mastering notwithstanding, Jane In Space fill a very specific and oft-missed niche sound-wise within industrial and emo circles. Namely, they have managed to capture the sounds and feelings of a revered time in industrial’s past: the 80s. Frontman and vocalist Tom Vickers attributes the tones he and bandmates Josh Stillman and Jesse Jensen have been able to create to his British upbringing. In England in the 80s there was a proliferation of emo and goth bands which started to fuse with industrial and even pop in a way that was new and exciting. This throwback feeling is prevalent on the album, where listeners will definitively hear lashings of Depeche Mode and Bauhaus in their otherwise modern soundscape.

A very Depeche Mode-heavy example of this is the first single off the record, called “Feel It Alive”. Released in video form as a teaser to the album last month. In this single, Taylor’s vocals have all echoing throatiness of Dave Gahan while Jensen’s programming straddles 80s industrial sounds and more modern beats and samples. Meanwhile, lead track “Say Something” brings in indie, industrial and darkwave sounds from many different time periods. Here, Taylor’s vocals are more brassy and almost seem strained. They lend themselves to the lighter, more snares-driven highs and equally brassy melodies in the track. Even more surprising is a quite funky bassline from Stillman.



Some other highlights on the album include “Dehydrated”, which has a sort of reverse Depeche Mode bassline and more versatile vocals from Taylor, and “Mental Abrasions”, which features a lot of fun ravey sounds and NIN-inspired beats. Here Taylor’s vocals are almost operatic, where he shows the range of his voice. The only sort of strange choice in the album comes in the form of the vocals on “Spiderwebs”, where some strange auto-tune is added to Taylors voice, for no appreciable reason. Jensen and Baker may have been trying to gain some sort of echo quality, but it doesn’t quite come off. The chorus of this song is beautiful, however, so it’s not a total loss by any means.


Jane In Space are off to a very good start with their debut album and have a knack for combining vintage industrial and emo sounds with modern techniques and their own unique twist. Each member of this unique trio is bringing a whole lot of talent to the mix. It seems that with all these elements and the help of a great producer, Jane In Space have lived up to their pre-release hype.  Aug 26 2016