Meadow Song - Single Review by The Reconnoiter..

A peaceful meadow-like inner space that initially feels like refuge from pressure and pain.  Over time, the person realizes this calm place may blur reality and stall emotional growth, revealing a deeper truth that cannot be ignored.  In the end, the pull toward awareness disrupts the comfort, suggesting that staying in illusion is no longer possible.  It’s another fave song from the fifth album by the Leicester, England-based band. 

Buy and listen here!

The Solid and the Hollow - Album Review by The Active Listener...

 

"The Junipers have gifted us with yet another instant classic. Absolutely essential listening for anyone with an ear for timeless pop music."

Great to see a new release from another of our old favourites, this time Leicester’s The Junipers. 

I've loved everything they've released, and that status quo remains unchanged here. If anything, they're getting better.

The Junipers are one of those bands whose albums sound very carefully crafted in the studio, but also give the impression that if you wandered into their rehearsal space on any given Sunday afternoon you’d hear something with equal polish. It all sounds so natural and unlaboured that it’s hard to reconcile these guys having to go off and do day jobs as it sounds like they do this 24/7. It’s unjust for someone to do something this well and not be able to earn a full time living from it. 

But what does it sound like you ask? A more democratic Wings. A contemporary Honeybus. A more pastoral Teenage Fanclub. Just go and listen to it.

With The Solid and The Hollow, the Junipers have gifted us with yet another instant classic. Absolutely essential listening for anyone with an ear for timeless pop music.  

Buy on vinyl, CD or digital here!

The Solid and the Hollow - Album Review by Power Popaholic..

"There are lots of great moments within the songs that evoke a mood akin to a bright summer day"

Robyn Gibson (lead guitar, vocals) says it best, “… it became a kind of nostalgia trip,” and the band’s fifth album keeps those stylistic touches that recall The Beatles, The Association, and The Free Design. “Oneless” is a subtle opener, with Gibson’s gentle vocal leading the way. It’s the template for most of the songs to follow, with the exceptions being the driving bass line lead on the psyche-pop of “When She Turns” and spacey synths on “Fishes.”

There are lots of great moments within the songs that evoke a mood akin to a bright summer day. “She Makes The Sun Shine” is especially buoyant with a rhythm line akin to The Beatles’ “Rain.” “Meadow Song” has a wonderful mix of keys, guitars, and layered sounds, and slowly builds into something great. “Swan” is another breezy melody that wallows in the dreamlike atmosphere, with subtleties in the harmonies that audiophiles will appreciate. If you fell in love with this band from their super catchy ‘Euphonious Trolley’ EP, this album is its spiritual cousin. Highly Recommended.

The Solid and the Hollow - Album Review by I Don't Hear a Single..

"The Junipers have never released a duff album. I'm deliberately trying not to mention songs because this is a proper album to be listened to from start to finish. Absolutely essential"

 Just as with David Brookings, I return to our very early days, a decade ago, when I reviewed The Junipers' Red Bouquet Fair. I've been with them ever since and enjoyed Robyn Gibson's Bob Of The Pops adventures through the period to now.

A new Junipers album is also a reason to celebrate as they bring my beloved Psych Pop back to life. More recently, the quartet have been as interesting as ever, but been a little more mellow. None of that here, this is a real Guitar album, back to earlier days and a full revelation of how great Psych Pop is. 

The Solid And The Hollow not only makes an old man very happy, but is also one of the best psych pop albums for a long time.The whole thing is beautifully arranged, the instrumentals are works of art and show off Gibson's dulcet tones beautifully. 

It really sounds as though it could have been recorded in those hazy 60's days when the genre took off. But there are also hints of the late 80s revival. The album offers up both beat and the more mellow, but all are arranged perfectly, providing a dreamlike vibe or a killer Psych Beat. 

I'm deliberately trying not to mention songs because this is a proper album to be listened to from start to finish. But as you head over you may want to compare the 60s Beat of When She Turns with the wonderful Piano led closing masterpiece that is Moments Of Truth.

In between you get everything that the band is great at, Mellotron, jangle and stunning mood setters. The Junipers have never released a duff album, but this is more of a Guitar album, a step back to the early days if you like and no one masters Psych Pop like these four. Absolutely Essential!

NEW SINGLE RELEASE - IN A MAZE - OUT FRIDAY 3RD APRIL

 The 2nd single from our new album The Solid and the Hollow is out now. If you pre-order the album you will receive all the singles taken from the album before the album is released. Pre-order the album HERE.

It's an upbeat track about being in chaotic situations but being happy and having it any other way even if you could change things. It's also about thinking you know what's what and learning that you probably don't, and no one does. No particular inspiration from other bands we don't think, the chord sequence just fell out an acoustic guitar one night, nice when that happens. Hope it's to everyone's taste anyway : )

Lyric video is live on YouTube Watch Here.

ALBUM REVIEW - THE POP CORPS REVIEWS THE SOLID and the HOLLOW

 

There’s no two ways about it – in terms of inventive, kaleidoscopic music, there’s few groups that get close to The Junipers. From 2008’s ‘Cut Your Key’, they burst onto the scene marrying the sounds of the deep-cut psychedelic 45s from your collection, to the joyful pop of Wings-era McCartney, Gilbert O’Sullivan and Emitt Rhodes, with the toytown symphonies of Curt Boettcher, Brian Wilson and Mark Wirtz.

Without all the fuss of fanfare, their albums wouldn’t so much get released, but rather, emerge from whatever multicoloured world The Junipers reside when they’re hatching up new music. People will tell you they’re just some good blokes from Leicester – but when these records appear, it feels more like they’re hanging around in The Sea of Holes or something.

Now, quite by surprise, they have appeared again, fully formed and ready to let us into their world with a new record called ‘The Solid And The Hollow’, which again, showcases some of the finest music you’re likely to hear.

Fans of the band are borderline evangelical about the sunshine folk-rock, psychedelic twists and turns, and the pure rush of unadulterated pop that they continually deliver. Maybe that’s because we can imagine an alternative universe where some wealthy benefactor is able to just keep them on some record company books and pour enough money into them to keep us in music that nourishes and makes us feel better.

Over the years, the shifts in musical style have been subtle and smart, never once sounding like one of those terrible throwback groups that are more Beatle Fancy Dress Wig than they are embodying the creativeness of the psychedelic period.

This time around, that brilliant and familiar Juniper sound is there, but now, it’s been cut with something different.

From album opener, we see an almost slowed-down, dreamier take on Freakbeat with ‘The Oneness’, and later, ‘Where I’m Landing’ gives us a relaxed version of Power Pop that really ticks all the boxes.

‘In A Maze’ and ‘Swan’ have a bit more bite, although, still easy-does-it, bringing to mind Arthur Lee’s Love, The Byrds, and a host of uptempo jangly pop bangers, but still very much in the framework that makes Juniper records so magical and rewarding.

‘When She Turns’ – the track that was released ahead of the album to whet our appetites – is a much more muscular affair that, coupled with ‘Fishes’, melds Motorik madness with the swirling, heady, heavy psychedelic rock that is welcomed, even if it might make you leap out of your seat!

It’s not all change – the music you associate with records past is still very much present, with ‘Meadow Song’, ‘She Makes The Sun Shine’, ‘Who Can Say’ are sugary and sweet, clever and gorgeous and ‘Moments Of Truth’ allow for an experience that can only be likened to the pocket symphonies of Brian Wilson when he grew his beard out.

Throughout, the harmonies are green and lush, and the melodies are plucked out of some perfect pop songbook, and there’s baroque, jangle pop, sensational production, DIY rough-and-readiness and all-in-all, we find ourselves bathing in the whole thing, thrilled that they’ve blessed us with an invite into their universe.

You can almost hear the perimeters of their influences expanding ever so gently, with all the usual pillars of their music present, but also, echoes of garage punk, shoegaze, and Paisley Underground’s swirly grittiness.

This is an album worth raving about and utterly essential.

‘The Solid And The Hollow’ is out April 24th and you can pre-order your copy here.

Read the Article on The Pop Corporation Here

WE PICK OUR MOST INFLUENTIAL PSYCHEDELIC TRACKS for STRANGE BREW POD..

We were asked by The Strange Brew Podcast to pick our most influential psychedelic tracks. We've not gone monster rare here or anything, and pretty obvious.. but you can't lie about what has had the biggest impact on you. See the full article HERE.

The Junipers’ Favorite Psychedelic Tracks

Twenty years in, Leicester’s The Junipers are still making psychedelic pop that sounds like a Saturday morning radio discovery and a dusty record find in a town centre shop. To follow up their brilliant 2024 album, Imaginary Friends, they release their fifth LP, The Solid and the Hollow, on 24 April.

By their own description it ended up as a nostalgia trip of sorts, imagining how they might have approached music as teenagers, when the 60s and indie records they love were still fresh discoveries. 60s garage, 80s neo-psychedelia and early 90s shoegaze all fed into it, pushing them toward a more guitar-led sound than recent albums. They even went back and reworked a song they wrote as teenagers, ‘She Makes the Sun Shine,’ which became a kind of anchor for the whole record. Having heard it, I can tell you it delivers on every one of those influences while sounding completely like itself, which is a harder trick to pull off than it sounds. If you want a way in, their current single ‘When She Turns’ is out now, with ‘In A Maze’ to follow on 4 April.

To mark the release, we asked the band to share the psychedelic tracks that mean the most to them. Mellotrons feature heavily.

The Beatles – Strawberry Fields Forever

Joe: It’s an obvious one but it is probably my favourite track of all time. It’s not like I listen to it all the time nowadays, but when I do it always has an impact. Nobody needs this track breaking down for them of course, but I love its mystery, how it starts out soft and mellow, and ends heavy with a crazy mellotron jam at the end. The whole production, how they spliced together 2 takes in slightly different keys, and actually went with it. The most ambitious single yet, by the biggest band in the world, and they released a mash up of 2 different takes that were in different keys and tempos to one another. But it works and actually makes the track sound weirder and more ethereal, like it wasn’t made by humans. And apparently it still wasn’t to Lennon’s liking because it wasn’t heavy enough. I’d love to hear the version he had in his mind. I’m also a sucker for anything from the 60s and 70s with a mellotron and this song is the reason.

Pink Floyd – See Emily Play

Joe: Like ‘Strawberry Fields,’ this track is a pretty obvious choice but it had such a big impact. I first heard this on Sounds of the 60’s which I’d listen to as a teen religiously every Saturday morning in bed. I’d hear new stuff (to me) all the time and then spend that afternoon hunting the records down in town. To me at the time this was like hearing ‘Strawberry Fields’ mark II. I love the vocals, the melody, the vibe, the singalong chorus, the sped up interlude, those orchestral bits that open the verses, the way Syd sings “tomorrow”! I remember buying that First 3 Singles CD and blasting it out later that day and my Dad just opening my bedroom door and looking at me gone out.

July – My Clown

Joe: I remember the first time I heard this was at one of the Mousetrap nights in London in like 2001 or something. I didn’t know the track, but it was in my head for months afterwards, until me or Pete managed to track it down. To hear a track like this for the first time at full blast in a basement is the perfect introduction. At that time I didn’t know what I was listening to! I knew it would be from 1968 or 69 but it was just so far out, I couldn’t absorb it or work out how this sound had been made. I remember I ordered the CD of the album and it came through the post on a Saturday morning. No one home , and I was blaring this track out on the kitchen CD player, my Dad came home and was just going “what is this?? Far out man!!” all sarcastic. We actually got to support Tom Newman and July in about 2016 which was nice.

Marmalade – Man in a Shop

Robyn: The crystal clear production, those guitars and pop hooks. The works! They play 2 basses on it too, as they did on ‘See the Rain.’ One plays more basic around the root notes, and one is more twangy and melodic like a John Entwhistle bass line. We’re all suckers for the poppier side of psychedelia and this one is a classic of that genre.

Tomorrow – Claramount Lake

Ash: This is right up Ash’s street. A tight, crunchy, funky band performance. Ash’s mum had the single of Tomorrow’s ‘My White Bicycle’ and this was the b-side, so he was introduced to this track early doors.

Honeybus – Under the Silent Tree

Ben says: Would you say Honeybus are psychedelic? I’m terrible with genres and labels.. like it’s just music maaaan! ‘Under the Silent Tree,’ that’s a good one. But yea, Honeybus are a favourite of all of ours and they definitely dabbled in psychedelia and this track also has a mellotron.

LIVE DATE CONFIRMED - THE JUNIPERS GIG

 We play our first gig in 10 years on Friday 1st May 2026. It will be as part of the psych event Freakout, held at The Night Owl in Birmingham. Our new album is out the week before an we will be playing new songs with some of the old ones. It should be a good night with support from psychedelic covers band The Mystery People and psychedelic DJ's. 

Tickets available HERE

NEW ALBUM FOR 2026 - PRE-ORDER "THE SOLID AND THE HOLLOW" NOW...

 We're happy to announce that we have a new album to be released April 24th 2026. The Solid and the Hollow is available for pre order from our Bandcamp page now. 

Available on vinyl, CD and digital.

We started this project heading in a slightly different direction to where we ended up. As it progressed it became a kind of nostalgia trip — imagining how we would have approached music as teenagers, when so much of the 60s and indie music we now know and love was brand new to us. It made the whole process feel fresh and exciting to make.

We've actually included a song written in our teens called She Makes the Sun Shine — albeit updated and slightly different from the original — and it gave us a good springboard for the vibe we were on.

We were listening to a lot of 60s garage, 80s neo-psychedelia and early 90s shoegaze during its production, which pushed us toward a more guitar-led sound than our previous two albums. We felt we hadn't made a proper guitar album since Paint the Ground and decided it was time to get the amps out again. 

We will be playing our first live gig in 10 years to support the release on 1st May in Birmingham. Tickets available HERE.

Pre-Order available now: The Solid and the Hollow | The Junipers

NEW JUNIPERS SINGLE FOR 2026 - WHEN SHE TURNS..

We have released our first single from our 2026 album The Solid and the Hollow. Buy here: When She Turns (Single 2026) | The Junipers

Our new album is also now available for pre orders: The Solid and the Hollow | The Junipers

When She Turns came about after a long drive home — turning the organ on and just holding a long distorted note and gradually drenching it in more distortion and tremolo. We'd had the chorus line for a few years and it fit perfectly dropping into that sustained organ note.
We had a bit of fun making a little video for it too, which you can find on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@TheJunipersUK

The Junipers - When She Turns (Lyrics)

lyrics

When She Turrns (Lyrics)

She planted a seed but didn't know
That it would make a garden grow
She waters the flowers, now I find
That they are growing in my mind

When she turns it on
And she turns it on

I drop to the floor and forget about time
It feels like springtime in my mind
The world is in colour from black and white
My body is drowning in sunlight

When she turns it on
And she turns it on

When she turns it on
And she turns it on

NEW JUNIPERS SIDE PROJECT YELLOW PEGS CD

During 2020 and 2021 many of us had lots of time on our hands, to do the garden on a daily basis and start some new projects. Well between gardening, daytime naps and listening to lots of old folk albums like Vashti Bunyan "Just Another Diamond Day", Bill Fay "Grandfather's Clock", Donovan "Gift From a Flower", Tyrannosaurus Rex "Unicorn" and a load of self released rarer stuff like Midwinter, Courtyard Music Group, These Trails etc, we got the old tascam 4 track cassette recorder out and started to record an album of simple, wobbly folky songs. This came out under the moniker Yellow Pegs and released it on a home made CDR and cassette. We now have a limited amount of professional CD press' in a mini lp style card sleeve which includes bonus tracks. They are available now with a free download of the digital version on our bandcamp page HERE!

Shindig Magazine Review:

"While everyone & everything is on hiatus, Joe Wiltshire of Leicester psychedelic poppers The Junipers has had time to create this short, home-recorded album of largely acoustic, folky material on a four-track cassette recorder.

Stripped of his main project's usual baroque-pop production, tracks do begin & often end abruptly, in improvisatory fashion, but these aren't demos - nor is he overly reliant on the wonky lo-fi aesthetic. For one thing the sheer amount of instrumentation on here is a cut above the usual four-track fare - acoustic guitar, bass, drums, multi-tracked voice, mellotron, celeste, harmonium, piano, the list goes on. But all are used judiciously to produce an accomplished & charming set of songs, none of which overstays it's welcome, or really even gets comfortable at all - the 16 tracks here take up just 27 minutes. It'll be interesting to see if any get fleshed out for the next Junipers album proper."

BUY NEW CD HERE

IMAGINARY FRIENDS ALBUM REVIEW in LEFTLION MAGAZINE...

 Album: The Junipers - Imaginary Friends

Featuring their crispest and most refined sound yet, The Junipers’ fourth record is an album that feels at once fresh and familiar. Though unapologetic in its 60s psychedelic roots, Imaginary Friends oozes confidence and originality. From the delicious distorted groove of album highlight While You Preside to the plaintive lilt of Red Song, the Leicester quartet show the full range of their musical and lyrical abilities. Whimsical storytelling, spotless production and layered harmonies Brian Wilson would be proud of - all these combine to make Imaginary Friends a joyful listen, start to finish. @thejunipersband (Sam Marshall)

Read the full article HERE

IMAGINARY FRIENDS NUMBER 3 in POPGRUPPEN BEST of 2024

We are very happy Junipers to have our album Imaginary Friends included in Popgruppen' best albums of 2024. Read the full article here

Buy the album here

JUNIPERS ALBUM IMAGINARY FRIENDS NAMED BEST ALBUM OF 2024 in POP CORPS..

Chuffed to bits to have our album Imaginary Friends names best album of 2024 on The Pop Corps. We put a lot of work and love into the album so this makes it all worth it. We had a decent response to the album in general. A few plays on BBC radio in the midlands and 6 music. Sold out of the first batch of CD's and all of the vinyl and seemed to pop up on a few peoples best of the year lists, we can't ask for more than that : )

ALBUM OF 2024: THE JUNIPERS

We reviewed The Junipers newest LP in full here, but for those who don’t want to click a link, in what ended up being a quite difficult decision thanks to the strength of the pack, we decided that Kendrick Lamar' album may have been influenced by some recency bias, it was a straight dogfight between Dina Ogon’s ‘Orion’, and Fabiana Palladino’s self-titled debut, and our eventual winner, The Junipers.

Pure sunshine and inventive playfulness throughout, The Junipers once again reminded everyone that there’s simply no-one else like them. Uplifting melodies, everything and the kitchen sink approach and more hooks than a fisherman’s shed. Absolute perfection, top to bottom.

https://youtu.be/6j_u_X8Ocag?si=c44R_Fw6aI0Bqj-1

IMAGINARY FRIENDS makes SHINDIG MAGAZINES TOP 20 ALBUMS of 2024...

We are absolutely delighted to have made Shindig Magazine' top 20 albums of 2024. Its our favorite magazine so we're over the moon with this.

1 The Lemon Twigs - A Dream is All We Know

2 The Soundcarriers - Through Other Reflections

3 Daniel Romanos Outfit - Too Hot to Sleep

4 Project Gemini - Colours & Light

5 Paul Weller - 66

6 Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch

7 Goat - Goat

8 Beautify Junkyards - Nova

9 Gruff Rhys - Sadness Sets Me Free

10 The Courettes - The Soul of the Fabulous Courettes

11 Moon - III

12 Kit Sebastian - New Internationale                            

13 Bananagun - Why is Bananagun?

14 2nd Grade - Scheduled Explosions

15 MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks

16 Susan James - Time is Now

17 The Junipers - Imaginary Friends

18 Shadow Show - Fantasy Now

19 Mystery Lights - Purgatory

20 The Prisoners - Morning Star

2024 JUNIPERS INTERVIEW with MICHAEL BJORN in SHINDIG MAGAZINE..

Fittingly for a late 60s inspired record, the new JUNIPERS album is an unplanned love child. Joe Wiltshire and Robyn Gibson tell Michael Björn how one thing led to another.

To the delight of sunny psychedelic pop lovers, after eight years The Junipers are back with Imaginary Friends. It started when Robyn was recording the Portable Radio’s sophomore album. “We managed to persuade Joe to play bass,” says Robyn. “So that got me and Joe kind of doing bits over in Leicester.” 

Their first idea was to re-record the Junipers’ debut album Cut Your Key since they did not have ownership of the original. However, when a reissue deal was struck with the original label, attention instead turned to new material. “We had about four new songs,” says Joe who is the songwriter of the pair. “I showed them to Portable Radio, thinking perhaps we could do it with them.”

But accidental momentum took over and the songs just kept on coming. “The sessions were just so easy,” says Robyn. “We’d pop over to the Juniper studio for two or three hours, once or twice a week, and come out with maybe one and a half songs recorded.”

Soon the two had taped almost an album’s worth - but decided to also include ‘My Imaginary Friend’ — the last group recording made in late 2017 just before their guitarist Peter Gough got ill and the band activity petered out. “I wanted to do our own ‘Martha My Dear’. There’s an Emitt Rhodes track, ‘She's Such A Beauty’, and I wanted something like that,” explains Joe. “But we've not got a dog, so we made one up, like a Rutles thing!” 

With some parts recorded by the full lineup, the music feels like a direct continuation from previous album, Red Bouquet Fair. “It's good that it doesn't stick out,” says Robyn. “Nobody seems to have noticed the change in line-up.”

And judging from the sheer quality on display, great tunes seem to have been piling up over the inactive years, all in their signature warm and friendly style. “It's like a summer haze that's shimmering in and out,” says Robyn. ”Its nice to make something that makes you smile,” adds Joe. “Some songs are probably a bit saccharine, but as you build them, you try and steer it away from that a bit.” But while the production indeed layers psychedelic sounds and playful overdubs here and there, such effects are used sparingly in order avoid sugar coating.

“We just did it for fun,” concludes Robyn. “But we ended up with the fourth Junipers album!”

Joe and Robyn. Shed music.

JUNIPERS FEATURE in NME ARTICLE from 2006..

 

25.AUG.2006

Former Alfie frontman Lee Gorton has launched a campaign to form a 'psychedelic supergroup' for a special project.

The singer has asked The Flaming Lips, The Zutons, Elbow, Snow Patrol and Athlete to lay down vocals for a compilation album which will be written and recorded be a host of up and coming bands.

He told NME: "I've talked with all these heads and they've all said, 'Lee you fucking nutter, sounds great'. So I've planted the seed and asked them and now it's my job to find a load of great songs that will suit them which will be written by up and coming artists and bands like Jim Noir, The Monks Kitchen, John Stammers, The Draytons and The Junipers because they're all dying to write the songs. Then we'll just try and get the big boys in to sing them'.

'I wanna have proper folk tunes on there, psychedelic tunes, northern soul and straight up Beatles-esque, Wings-esque pop classics."

The project entitled 'Red Thread' after Lee's Manchester roots has been set up to try try and bring a host of unsigned bands to the fore through major artists.

He explained: "We're just trying to get loads of bands working together, writing with each other, dropping all the stand-offish playground mentality attitude that bands have with each other sometimes when they think they've got to scrap it out. A lot of em have got good hearts and are doing it for the right reason and that's why I don't mind going (Guy) Garvey and all the others and saying 'C'mon don't you remember what it was like to be unsigned and what it was like trying to get a break when you started out?."

Although the project is still in it's tentative stages, the singer is currently on the lookout for a studio where tracks can be laid down for the record.

He went on: "All I need now is some crazy old last of the English eccentrics, some old dude who's got a decrepit old mansion anywhere, even if it's in Bulgaria, The Isle Of Skye, Wales, anywhere that'll have us for two or three weeks a month. I'm aiming to take a few producer mates, a few laptops and mics and just cane it. So if anyone has got a fucking mad mansion gis a shout."

JUNIPERS FEATURED IN FRESH ON THE NET FAVORITES...

'Mary In the Rain' was featured as a weeks favorite on the Fresh On the Net blog as voted for by readers. Nice little write up by Poppy Bristow too: 

THE JUNIPERS – Mary In The Rain

THE JUNIPERS – Mary In The Rain

We bring our roundup to a close with something a little lighter – musically, that is. Psychedelic Leicester pop pickers The Junipers bring us 'Mary In The Rain', a melodious, multi-layered pocket symphony topped with Beach Boys harmonies.

The result sounds deliciously like if Kevin Ayers had put a bit more effort into producing his records. But don’t be fooled by such sonic sunshine. 'Mary In The Rain' is based on the true story of a circus elephant, Mary, who was hanged using a crane after she killed the man who was riding her. Plenty of pop music has put a colourful wrapper on tragedy, but rarely has the tragedy been so peculiar as it is here – nor the wrapper quite so dazzling.

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube | Bandcamp 

THE JUNIPERS on PURE POP RADIO with ALAN HABER...

 

Red Bouquet Fair.

Summer's all the sweeter with this charming collection from the Leicester, UK band in the mix. Recalling the sweet sunshine pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s in such lovely songs as 'Summer Queen' and 'Like a Merry Go Round'. Red Bouquet Fair is no less than the audio equivalent of smiling at your good fortune on a warm day in the park while sipping cool lemonade. 

The vocals are enchanting and the instrumentation is perfectly played. By Alan Haber.

Read the full article Here!

IMAGINARY FRIENDS ALBUM REVIEW on MONOLITH COCKTAIL..

 

The Junipers…now then, if I’m not mistaken my band The Bordellos once appeared on a compilation album alongside these lovely lads. The Future Is Bright The Future Is Cloudy or vice versa. Anyway, a fine compilation from many years ago. But I digress once again.

What we have here is the fourth album from the group, and what a cracking little pop gem it is. An album of pure pop, the kind Macca and Gilbert O Sullivan used to make in the early seventies, with a touch of pure 60s pop harmony magic that The Zombies would no doubt write home to their mothers about, and playful psych undertones that yearns for the day when London used to swing  and Russ Sainty used to loiter outside the Bag O Nails with that bunch of dandies The First Impression. Imaginary Friends is a wonderful album filled with quite wonderful songs. And is really made for your record collection.

Read the full review and more on Monolith Cocktail Blog

Buy The Junipers Imaginary Friends here!

5 STAR RATING and IMAGINARY FRIENDS ALBUM REVIEW in SHINDIG! MAGAZINE..

 

From Shindig Magazine October 2024

The Junipers are connoisseurs of classic harmony pop, channeling a myriad of familiar and obscure influences. The fourth album maybe their most fully realised yet. Regular readers will be familiar with singer Robyn Gibson and his Bob Of the Pops sideline covers project, or guitarist Pete Goughs Bite it Deep blog, that deep mines forgotten pop gems from the 60's and 70's. All of this explains what to do expect from a Junipers album.

With a nod to John Carter productions here and a wink to early High Llamas there, The Junipers create a sound that radiates with a warm hazy glow. Songs like 'Monkey On My Back' and 'Annie Almond' are stuffed with tiny little pieces of nostalgic inspiration. The lovely Autumnal folk of 'Red Song' recalls Elliott Smith at his most wistful. 

If you like melancholic harmony-pop with Toytown psych flourishes, The Junipers are sweet medicine for the soul.