Biography
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Mila Oshin and Kris Jager were introduced by producer David Kosten (Bat For Lashes, Faultline) after hearing each other’s solo recordings in his London studio. Philosophy student Oshin had been involved in several ensembles as a singer, songwriter and lyricist, composed music for contemporary dance and live art productions, worked as a clown and performance poet and set-up visual art, music and poetry projects for underpriviliged children in North London. PhD student Jager had been involved in numerous art and music projects as a songwriter, musician and programmer, including a ‘glam-funk’ outfit, an experimental electronic ensemble and a duo writing and performing soundtracks for the legendary Halloween Society film club. Soon after forming Drunk With Joy, which was initially intended to be a writing and recording project only, Oshin and Jager set up A Maze Records and self-released debut single I Say Goodbye (2004). Promoted solely on the internet (but only vailable on CD), I Say Goodbye was picked up by independent radio stations in the UK, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Japan, Canada and the student broadcast network on the westcoast of the USA. Debut album ‘Sound Living’ followed suit, with its first edition - of which only two thousand copies were pressed - becoming a collector’s item on the internet within months of its release in 2006. After releasing another single, ‘The Beginning’, and receiving an increasing number of requests and invitations for live appearances, Oshin and Jager felt it was time to move Drunk With Joy to another level. By then the pair had relocated to Exeter and had become heavily involved in the city’s exceptional subversive art scene. Sharing a long-term passion to reclaim popular music as a credible artform and also to increase the accessibility and popularity of other performing and visual artforms, Oshin and Jager got together with a handpicked selection of like-minded visual and performing artists from the South West of the UK and formed the Joy Collective. Alongside writing new tracks for their second album, Drunk With Joy spent most of 2007 working with members of the Joy Collective on a unique and groundbreaking multi-artform live show, set to embark on a UK tour at the end of 2008. |
