Floating (Jape song)

"Floating" is a 2004 single by the Irish band Jape, taken from the second studio album, The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me and described as "Jape's trademark song".[1] Co-produced by David Kitt,[2] the single was the first release from the album and was generally viewed by critics as the standout track on the album.[3] In 2007, it featured on the EP, Jape is Grape, for which a video was made. Brendan Benson of The Raconteurs is a known admirer of the song and has performed a cover version during live shows.[4]

"Floating"
Single by Jape
from the album The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me
Released2004
Length3:14
LabelTrust Me I'm a Thief/V2
Songwriter(s)Richie Egan
Producer(s)David Kitt/Richie Egan
Cover of the 2007 remixes of "Floating".
The award-nominated video for "Floating" sees Richie Egan attacked by fruit and vegetables as he attempts to paint a garden fence.

Reception

"Floating" was a popular single on late night alternative music radio shows in Ireland.[3] The national broadcaster RTÉ described the song as "part drugs story and part love song" and noted its "quirky instrumentation and Gregorian chanting".[3] It described the lyrics as having "a definite feel of amateur philosophy at 5am" but it said that that was "not necessarily a bad thing".[3]

Cover versions

The song was famously overheard being played in Whelan's in Dublin by the musician Brendan Benson who immediately requested a copy of the album.[5] A friend at the venue informed the band of this development following a show at The Bloom Festival[6] during The Rose of Tralee festival in County Kerry.[5] Benson then praised Jape in The Guardian (however, the newspaper spelt it "Jabe"[5]) and rang the song's writer to inform him he would be covering "Floating" with his band The Raconteurs.[5] Benson did not actually receive permission to cover the track although it has been said that he would have been allowed to had he asked.[7] Jape witnessed the cover live at the Olympia Theatre and was later to describe it as "a great moment".[5] "Floating" is also covered by the Belgian bastard pop duo Soulwax during their DJ sets.[8]

2007 remixes

A remix collection of "Floating" was released as a single on 4 June 2007 through the Marine Parade label of Adam Freeland.[9] There were contributions from Prins Thomas, Alex Metric and Son Green over three formats.[9] The 12" featured an eleven-minute "Prins Thomas Diskomiks" and an "Alex Metric Mix".[9] The original version of "Floating" and a "Son Green Mix" featured on the 7", whilst the download version featured bonus tracks of "Prins Thomas Dub" and "Prins Thomas 0.75 Miks".[9]

Video

"Floating" went on to feature on the EP, Jape is Grape, released on 19 November 2007 on V2 Records. The video was recorded on 2 October 2007 and was directed by M&E and D.A.D.D.Y.[10] The video's storyline involves Richie Egan walking onscreen to finish painting a garden fence. As he completes this task he is hit with a piece of fruit by an unknown assailant. He is then hit with more fruit before gently lifting off the ground as a water melon is hurled in his direction. Despite this an apple hits him in the face and this is followed by a stream of fruit and vegetables including broccoli, pears, a tomato which splashes across his forehead and a shower of grapes which cascade onto him from above as he attempts to defend himself. A coconut hits a bottle and glass of milk which are positioned on a stepladder, sending the contents flying through the air. As the fruit piles up Egan slips and falls exhaustedly onto the ground, with more food landing on top of him and apparently burying him. The fruit and vegetables then rise up to form an anthropomorphistic figure, with Egan's facial features visible beneath. An apple is then hurled at Egan beneath the fruit but it freezes mid-air and Egan rises above it out of the picture as the apple falls to the ground. The video ends with a fruitless Egan walking into shot clutching his paintbrush; he then picks up the fallen apple and takes a bite before returning to complete his painting of the garden fence.[10]

Awards

UK Music Video Awards

"Floating" was nominated for Best Budget Video at the UK Music Video Awards in 2008.[11] Autamata, another Irish band, were also nominated for their video "Need You Sunshine" as were Example’s video for "Me and Mandy", Lise Westzynthius's video for "Childlike Curves" and These New Puritans's video for "Elvis".[11] The awards ceremony took place on 14 October 2008 in the Odeon West End in Leicester Square, London.[11]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2008"Floating"Best Budget VideoNominated
gollark: Allegedly.
gollark: Defining everything so *vaguely* results in even less "rule of law" than we have now with somewhat detailed rules.
gollark: We already *work* on pretty informal rules and stuff. You seem to want weird legal-ish procedures in place.
gollark: It's a word used to describe stuff which is obvious to you, but not others.
gollark: Doesn't that just mean even MORE fuzziness and admin-discretion than the at least somewhat specific rules here?

References
  1. John Meagher (2008-04-11). "Review of the Week: Republic of Loose * * * *". Irish Independent. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
  2. "New album plus Irish tour for Jape". RTÉ. 2004-09-01. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  3. "Jape - The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me". RTÉ. 2004-12-02. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  4. Brian Boyd (5 March 2009). "Dublin band Jape wins overall prize at Choice Music awards". The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 March 2010. Egan’s three solo albums have all attracted a good deal of interest from the music industry. A song off his second album, “Floating” was a radio hit and is covered frequently in live appearances by the U.S. band The Raconteurs who are fronted by The White Stripes’ Jack White. Egan hopes the award will help raise his profile in international markets.
  5. "A matter of Choice". The Irish Times. 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  6. http://bloomintralee.com Archived 2010-05-10 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "entertainment.ie Interview with Jape". entertainment.ie. 2008-12-11. Archived from the original on 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  8. "Flaming Lips Support Bill Confirmed". BBC. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  9. "Jape to release 'Floating' remix collection". MUSE.ie. 2007-05-08. Archived from the original on 2007-11-20. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  10. "JAPE Floating by DADDY and M&E". Dailymotion. Accessed 8 March 2009.
  11. "Autamata and Jape up for UK Music Video Awards". Hot Press. 2008-09-29. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
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