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.
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