Following the critical acclaim of Yo Homo! –hailed as “a milestone in queer indie rock” and “a love letter to the openness surrounding sexuality”– Jamie Irrepressible and his ever-evolving project The Irrepressibles return with Yo Homo Deluxe, out now via Of Naked Design Records. Expanding on the original’s visceral mix of eroticism, symphonic grandeur, and punk-rooted fire, the deluxe edition reimagines and elevates the record with new tracks, alternate versions, and sharper production.
For Jamie, the new edition is more than just an expanded release; it’s an act of reclamation, self-realisation, and cultural intervention. “I wanted to make a record specifically for the queer community,” he explains, “to create a safe space where people feel they are being expressed.” That vision comes alive in songs like What I Am, Queer!, a defiant anthem that has grown into a community-led movement, inviting queer string players worldwide to participate during Pride Month.
In this conversation, Jamie discusses the evolution of the record into its deluxe form, the balance between vulnerability and empowerment in his songwriting, and why queer creativity is inseparable from cultural resistance.
What motivated you to return to Yo Homo! and rework it into a deluxe edition?
I actually wasn't happy with it and wanted to get it stronger and more realised before it was immortalised in a physical format. There we also recorded unfinished tracks as part of the body of work that I wanted to finish to create the complete album.
You described Yo Homo! as a record made “specifically for the queer community.” Can you tell us a bit more about that please?
It’s about queer sex and sexuality with a focus on male homosexuality as I’m a male homo. My earlier work has always been about homosexual love but has a broad straight appeal it seems. This is set in a queer space. It’s about self actualisation and self love in embracing what is your nature.
Many fans connected with the original record’s bold eroticism and symphonic beauty. How do the new tracks deepen or shift that balance?
The new track What I Am, Queer! is about the defiance not shrinking who you are, it’s about a collective LGBTQI+ ownership of this defiance, but it connects this importantly to what Liberalism is meant to be –freedom for all– the main thread of Western democracy often forgotten. The freedom to be yourself, truly yourself as an individual, is meant to be what we hold dear. It is the answer to look inwards and find this truth.
Sweet & Unique is a cheeky and fun track that has a double-entendre — let’s say we are all sweet and unique as queer people, so that’s one meaning here. Other than this, tracks on the original record are vastly improved.
Sweet & Unique is a cheeky and fun track that has a double-entendre — let’s say we are all sweet and unique as queer people, so that’s one meaning here. Other than this, tracks on the original record are vastly improved.
What I Am, Queer! isn’t just a song; it’s become a movement, inviting queer string players and allies to participate. What inspired that interactive, community-driven concept?
Music and Art are meant to be the drivers of political change. We live in a time of highly manufactured pop music products. It was an attempt to connect queer musicians around a message.
What’s it been like seeing musicians from around the world interpret your work and join the project visually and musically during Pride Month?
It’s been wonderful, yes.
You’ve said this project is a “call for a future beyond tolerance.” How do you hope music like Yo Homo Deluxe can help shift culture toward empathy and liberation?
This album is most certainly for the queer community rather than a message for a broader audience. I’ve seen my tracks In This Shirt and Two Men in Love move people beyond their intolerance as they are about homosexual love. Many will know how huge In This Shirt has become in its connection emotionally. Yo Homo is for us as a queer community, it’s about making music by us and for us. So much of the music we listen to as a community is by straight artists. It’s about adding to that sense of self discovery, understanding, and pride.
Your work is unapologetically queer, erotic, and emotionally raw. How do you navigate vulnerability in your songwriting while also creating a sense of power and agency?
I’ve always just written it and then I just release it. If I was to say it outside of music, I probably wouldn’t. Music holds space for much rawer emotions.
Your music blends genres from chamber pop to punk, nightlife to classical. How did you approach that fusion on this album — was it intuitive or intentional?
Chamber pop, as it’s known, is where I come from. Though the queer chamber pop movement should probably have another name to be honest, as it’s quite different to earlier incarnations of the genre. Basically, I can’t help but arrange strings over everything I do (laughs). But this album, Yo Homo!, is definitely indie rock. The one prior, Superheroes, was an electronic record. For me, genre is just a means of expression. Rock is the most visceral emotionally, so it connects best to the sexuality of the record.
“Yo Homo is for us as a queer community, it’s about making music by us and for us. So much of the music we listen to as a community is by straight artists.”
Can you talk about the sonic contrast between older works like In This Shirt and the more urgent, direct style of Yo Homo!? What changed in your process or perspective?
I just make what I am interested in at that time. Probably a mixture of ADHD and rebelliousness. In This Shirt is confessional and so I set it in the church sonically. As a catholic boy, it made sense to me emotionally at the time. For me, punk represents the anarchist spirit of impassioned individuality and rebelliousness — it’s always been part of my work as it was an early influence, but I’ve connected it to the guitar amps with this record.
The press release calls Yo Homo Deluxe a “cultural intervention.” Do you see your work as part of a broader queer cultural resistance or renaissance?
Both for sure. It continues the line from earlier records by other queer artists and adds to this. I think the queer scene has often forgotten the forefathers and foremothers, many of which we lost to the AIDS pandemic. We have so much of a diverse culture that is ours. It is richly diverse and beyond most of what we see in gay magazines and popular culture. From Fassbinder to Genet, Warhol to Haring, Tillmans to Alexander McQueen to Mercury — there is so much.
You’ve collaborated with acts like Röyksopp and Tinlicker. How have those collaborations influenced your solo work, especially in this new era?
There’s no real influence here on this record, but working with them for sure influences my work as a co-writer in electronic music. I’ve learnt a lot from these collabs about dance music and vocals for dance music. It is a huge part of my passion and I’ll continue to work in this field.
With Yo Homo Deluxe out in the world, what’s next for The Irrepressibles? Are there more community-led projects or bold musical directions on the horizon?
After the launch shows in London (at EarTH on the 29 Aug) and Manchester (at The Deaf Institute on the 31st Aug), I’m back into the studio to complete the record that’s coming next. Different genre, ha!
