Once called one of the best indie bands you've never heard of, Queer Jane is a three piece from a little known place called Bratislava in Slovakia, looking to break hearts with their catchy melodies and rich harmonies.

They are fronted by Vlado Nosal (vocals, guitars, keyboards, glockenspiel) and features Lukas Valter (bass) and Adam Janos (drums).

Despite being outsiders in their local scene, which is dominated by electronic music, the band have been playing gigs for their loyal fan base in Slovakia since 2012, with trips to Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and the UK.

Queer Jane have three albums under their belt, all highly acclaimed by Slovak music press. The band have been called "the hidden sensation of Slovak alternative scene" (týždeň) and front man Vlado’s "enviable instinct for melodies and poetry" (Musicpress.sk) has been highlighted more than once.

Their best-known track, A Happy Drunk, became a surprise success on Spotify with more than 630,000 streams. The song was recorded on a four track cassette before making its way into Spotify editorial Acoustic Rock playlist in 2019.

The trio are now releasing a new special single mix of Gerard Love today, Friday 17 July.

So this song has a real connection to Scotland as it’s Inspired by Gerard Love, the former member of Scottish band Teenage Fanclub and his ability to write great love songs, Vlad made it his mission to harness Gerard’s power and write the perfect love song in his name.

Vlad said:

The single is inspired by one of my favourite songwriters, Gerard Love. He has written so many beautiful love songs and I began to wonder if it had something to do with the surname, so I set about channelling his craftmanship into the track.

We wanted this song to stand out as something that has old-school influences and yet is distinctly fresh and modern. It’s the first time we’ve worked with Chris Pepper from Saltwell Studios, who did an amazing job mixing it, and it was also fantastic working with Mano Vredik on the animated video which we just love.

Gerard Love is a bloody brilliant track, it mixes those Teenage Fanclub retro influences whilst making it contemporary with its rich jangly guitar melodies and stunning harmonies.

It’s aim was to celebrate the songwriting of Gerard Love and it certainly achieves that ambition, it’s an emotive yet upbeat track, it’s has a fantastically engaging guitar hook, sentimental lyrics and a catchy chorus.

I loved the clever sentimental lyrics especially the opening verses when Vlado sings “my heart used to be a dungeon, now it's free and full of love and hate, I need to find a drugstore before it gets too late” and “I'm a lost baby in the wild, I feel both too guilty and too hurt, some roads are paved with diamonds
and some with dirt”.

And Gerard Love has a memorable singalong chorus “I've been hiding for a long long time, hiding for a long long time hiding from the love that fades away, with candle light but I couldn't hide from you to save my life” this will be fantastic to hear when the crowd sing this back to them in full voice.

This is an absolute banger of a tune, catchy guitar hooks, clever lyrics and a memorable chorus, all the ingredients of a great indie track. I have to agree that Queer Jane may just be the best indie band you’ve never heard of, they were new to me but not anymore, I will be keeping a close eye on them and hopefully a UK tour at some point after lockdown.

Give Gerard Love a stream below:

https://open.spotify.com/album/17667lZOa4d0TNUWs3U9vz?si=sZVHhoONQuCw07AmykXi_Q

The track is accompanied by a minimalist, quirky animated video by acclaimed Slovakian visual artist Mano Vredik. The animation tells the story of a loveable skeleton and his ever-changing heart and uses loops to inject brilliant moments of humour, watch the official video below:

Queer Jane can be followed on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify:

https://www.facebook.com/queerjane/

https://instagram.com/queer.jane?igshid=196vnp0cwz86n

https://open.spotify.com/artist/01NUOBulwqXLZt7zq2TCJm?si=OTX4NIY_TduBnxF8XeZdpw