“If you find yourself on a hike this weekend… daydreaming about Laurel Canyon, it might be the perfect time for Just Janie” – Spinoff, NZ
Just Janie is emerging as a compelling new voice in Aotearoa Indie Folk. Born and raised in Central Otago, Janie grew up writing songs tucked beneath the Hawkdun Ranges. Stepped in the golden warmth of the sixties and seventies, Just Janie’s music is a captivating and tender menagerie.
Mythology of the Girls is Just Janie’s debut album. A reaction to nostalgia through a modern lens, the album pays homage to the folk scene of the late sixties and early seventies. “As someone deeply nostalgic for the sixties and seventies from a musical standpoint (think Joni and the Crosby Stills and Nash boys all jamming at house parties in Laurel Canyon), I was interested in deconstructing my own rose tinted goggles for the era that stigmatised mental health and oppressed women, an era when women faced a myriad of societal limitations.” Using vintage recording processes, Just Janie and her band tracked the album via an analogue pathway to tape. An ambitious and increasingly rare approach allowing them to sonically replicate an era inspiring the music.
Just Janie gained global traction with her EP Muse and Musician, surpassing one million streams and was selected as part of Ōtautahi’s 2024 OMAP programme facilitated by Saltbox Studios alongside RDU 98.5FM for her single Musings in the Breakfast Aisle.
“A vocally rich and powerful lament of indecision, the song was part of the menu on NZ On Air‘s February 2025 New Tracks compilation” – NZ Musician (NZ).
