Pop Perfectionism
Kari Jorgensen leans into pop on the long-gestating follow-up Bobo II
By Thomas Crone
Thursday, March 3 marks the arrival of Bobo II, which, as the name would indicate, is the second album from the act Bobo, helmed by Kari Jorgensen and featuring her collaborator Jared Estridge. It's their first release since 2015, and features Estridge all over the new album after he provided guitar support on yesteryear's Smoke in the Elevator.
Recorded between 2013 and 2015, Smoke in the Elevator is well-described on the group's Bandcamp page as Jorgensen's "first solo foray into computer software music composition. 28+ minutes of deep, layered, relaxed electronic pop." It's an absolute winner, well worth an investigation a few years on.
It was brought about with the encouragement of her brother, Karl, who sensed that her work as a guitarist wasn't sparking joy. "I didn't like playing guitar," she says with candor, "and I sucked. The guitar was just the vehicle to write a song."
With his SLC music label, Hel Audio, Karl was able to induce a move into a new approach from Kari with a sweet caveat: record an album of music and it'll have a release home.
"I'd been in multiple bands with my brother," she says of her stylistic shift. "He and I have different tastes but also overlapping interests and tastes. We've introduced each other to stuff we may not have heard before. My only reluctance was buying an actual computer. So there were some barriers to entry. But it was definitely something I wanted to do."
Working in tandem with Estridge over the past few years, Jorgensen says, "I've tried to learn more about engineering and producing. We've been playing newer songs live and tweaking them. We're both obsessive, crazy people and the record's been in process for a really long time."
Bobo II's certainly more pop-oriented than the debut. And that fits Jorgensen's simple, effective take on what Bobo plays. "I guess I just like 'pop,'" she says. "It's snyth-ey and electronic, but it's not like any sort of specific sub-genre of electronic music. So I would just say indie pop."
As an artist releasing new music today, Jorgensen's both realistic and amusing in her take on how anyone's work slots in. "You're at the mercy of the algorithm," she says. "It's a situation where you're not just competing to be heard against other peoples' CD collections. It's like there's the entire history of the world's music for you to listen to."
At that point, a bit of self-assurance goes a long way, and Jorgensen says, "You can't really stay worried about people's reactions; it's so easy to get something like writer's block. I feel right now that it's 'Yeah, it's out! Let's finish this next batch of songs.' We have so many projects that we're working on. I'm going to stay positive, get excited about this and use the energy to keep the ball rolling."
This bit of forward motion comes two years after the pandemic scuttled a real opportunity to break beyond Utah, as "we were asked to open for a nationally touring band out of state. And those shows happened to be in the days that everything shut down."
Right now, one or two shows a month around Salt Lake will satisfy, with new songs played to an audience that's been waiting for this material. Add in some fun new merchandise—created with her graphic artist friend Jeff Griffin—and 2022's off a fine start for Jorgensen.
"I'm really proud of the album," Jorgensen says. "And I'm really, really excited for it to be out."
Bobo II is available at libido.bandcamp.com. Additional information can be found at Bobo's IG page: @actuallybobo.
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