Back in September last year, Sicilian multi-instrumentalist JuJu – the pseudonym of Gioele Valenti (Lay Llamas, Herself) – released his innovative and hypnotic sophomore album Our Mother Was A Plant on Fuzz Club Records.
After a run of festival appearances towards the end of last year, JuJu has now announced a full European tour in support of the new record (full dates below). To coincide with the announcement, he is sharing a brand new video for the powerful “In A Ghetto“, which features guest percussion from Capra Informis, the djembe player of Swedish psych-rock aficionados Goat.
Watch below Juju’s new video for “In A Ghetto (Feat Capra Informis)”, a mind-blowing and dizzying experience, let’s say it’s an invitation for immersion (Film by Rickard Daun from Flowers Must Die).
On Our Mother Was A Plant, JuJu sought to explore humanities increasingly strained relationship with Mother Earth, and when talking about his influences on the album he explains: “Our Mother Was A Plant is inspired by the great psychedelic researchers and plant explorers, including Timothy Leary, William Burroughs, Jim Morrison, Terence McKenna, Jeremy Narby and many others. People who managed to reveal the secret mechanism of the unconscious tied to the natural world that surrounds us, and from which we are indefinitely separated. Every separation, every neurosis, sexism, racism, speciesism and act of violence comes from this division. As a result of this, I believe true freedom lies in abandoning the ego and private property. Being a true symbol of freedom, autonomy and integration I also decided to dedicate the album to A Chosen Few, the first black American motorcycle club and its founding members (Lionel, Lil Frank, Roger, Hawk, Slim, Shirly Bates and Champ)”
Catch Juju on tour this February, full dates below.
Feb 4th, Mamamu, Naples (Italy)
Feb 6th, 30 Formiche, Rome (Italy)
Feb 8th, Coc D’Or, Olten (Switzerland)
Feb 11th, Cinetol, Amsterdam (Holland)
Feb 13th, Hy Brasil Club, Bristol (UK)
Feb 15th, The Soundhouse, Leicester (UK)
Feb 16th, Shacklewell Arms, London (UK)
Feb 17th, The Peer Hat, Manchester (UK)
Feb 18th, Kinky Star, Ghent (Belgium)
Feb 19th, El Chicho, Bordeaux (France)
Feb 20th, Le Nadir, Bourges (France)
Feb 21st, Le Salopard, Biel (Switzerland)
Feb 22nd, Camelot, Prato (Italy)
Feb 23rd, Copa Cabana, Porto Recanati (Italy),
Feb 24th, Rainy Days Festival, Avellino (Italy)
Our Mother Was A Plant is out now via Fuzz Club Records.