Cosmo Jarvis new single ‘She Doesn’t Mind’ out Nov 20
aaamusic | On 15, Nov 2011
The fearsomely talented Cosmo Jarvis is set to release his new single ‘She Doesn’t Mind’, taken from his acclaimed album ‘Is The World Strange Or Am I Strange?’ on November 21. Something of a creative juggernaut since bailing out of school and penning his debut album aged 19, Cosmo emits perfectly observed sardonic pop skits on the perplexities of youth, adulthood and all the misadventures that lie between, with an ease and accuracy that is startling.
True to form, Cosmo directs and produces the video for his latest track; a reggae-tinged outing extolling the virtues of a tri-lingual, trombone-toting girlfriend. Above the kind of skewed ‘Watching The Detectives’ skank Costello might have summoned had he something less wholesome than Columbo on his mind, Jarvis brims with the kind of deadpan panache and lyrical satire few would expect to find in an artist of his 21 years.
Have a listen here:
Born to an Armenian/American mother and a British father, Cosmo Harrison Krikoryan Jarvis began life in Ridgewood, New Jersey. He moved to Devon as a young child, and quickly developed twinned passions for music and film. His heroes are consequently as varied as the work he produces: John Lennon, Robin Williams, Frank Zappa, Maximus Decimus Meridius, The Crash Test Dummies and Elliott Smith (to name but a few).
If his first release, ‘Cosmo Jarvis’ fizzed with ideas and an array of sounds, there is a greater degree of focus on its follow-up, ‘Is The World Strange Or Am I Strange?’ The first single ‘Gay Pirates’ was a poignant yet rousing story of two men whose forbidden love sees them forced to walk the plank. Cosmo wrote it because, though he’s straight, he thought it would be funny to write a song for rowdy lads to sing along to with an openly gay agenda. “There aren’t that many ‘gay songs’” as he puts it, “and I thought there should be one.” Others seemed to agree, as the song became something of a cult hit: over 300,000 Youtube views, it has been lauded by the likes of Stephen Fry, 6 Music, XFM and the NME. “I’m glad people took something from it,” says Cosmo, “and didn’t make it into the gimmick it so easily could have become.”
If releasing your second album in two years wasn’t enough to be getting on with, Cosmo Jarvis is also in the middle of shooting his first full-length feature film; which he has also produced and written. He has already made over sixty five films, including ‘Alley Way’, which was screened at SXSW Film Festival. His new film, entitled ‘Naughty Room’, “is mainly about parenting, as well as taking responsibility to better yourself.”It has, by all accounts, been a labour of love. “The hardest part of making this film was not being older,” he says. “People just don’t want to deal with you in a professional manner if you’re young. But truly the worst part was hearing Mr Spielberg was up on the Dartmoor, our local beauty spot, making ‘War Horse’ with a crew of fuckloads, rather than two Volkswagen Golfs.”
Cosmo Jarvis is, as Brian Eno suggested, that new kind of artist. His interests and ambitions appear never-ending, and his contradictions – observant yet naïve, outspoken yet introspective – are a large part of his appeal. He knows that his music isn’t especially easy to sell, but he doesn’t seem to care. “I feel like I’m trying to mix this amazing light yellow paint, and I’m damned if I’m gonna let anyone come along with a strong red and drip it into my paint bucket and turn my music orange.” Cosmo is, quite simply, justCosmo.
