Named for The Daily Record advice columnist Joan Burnie, Scotland's the Just Joans make winsome, folk-informed indie pop. Taking influence in part from Magnetic Fields and the Smiths, they navigated melancholy and playful tones beginning with their spare 2006 debut, Last Tango in Motherwell. With siblings David and Katie Pope alternating lead vocals, the band updated their sound on 2017's You Might Be Smiling Now, which featured lusher arrangements and crisper production. Originally formed by guitarists David Pope and Chris Elkin, the Just Joans recruited keyboardist Dougie Cameron, bassist Fraser Ford, drummer Rowan Smith, and David's sister Katie in an effort to expand their sound. Their intimate, homespun takes on teenage life won them a loyal following, and in 2006, they released their debut album, Last Tango in Motherwell, through Ivan Lendil Music. The group moved to London's WeePop! Records for the EPs Virgin Lips and Hey Boy You're Oh So Sensitive in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The next two years saw two more EPs, Love and Other Hideous Accidents and Your Pain Is a Joke Next to Mines, also on WeePop! The label issued a slightly reworked version of the Just Joans' debut album as Buckfast Bottles in the Rain on vinyl in 2012, and the EP 6.9 Love Songs followed in 2013. The band returned on Christmas Eve 2016 with the four-track EP Seasonal Greet, which included a banjo and accordion cover of Wham!'s "Last Christmas." The Just Joans fleshed out their sound for a more jangly indie pop on 2017's You Might Be Smiling Now, their debut for Fika Recordings. By that time, Smith had left the group, and Jason Sweeney was on drums. With Arion Xenos then replacing Cameron on keys, the band's third album, Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans, followed on Fika in 2020. ~ Marcy Donelson