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Blog with news and merchandise for UK psychedelic pop band The Junipers.
Thursday, 26 September 2024
Wednesday, 25 September 2024
ALBUM REVIEW of CUT YOUR KEY in SHINDIG MAGAZINE..
Maybe a year and a half ago The Junipers stepped out of 1967 and affiliated themselves with the great stable of bands based around London's Redbricks Club Night. Unlike a lot of modern bands that tip their hat to late 60's psychedelia, The Junipers decided that songs and melodies were more important than getting the right haircuts and sitting around pretending they lived in Laurel Canyon.
On this, their debut album, the band have merged a melodic touch that really is second to none, with a refreshingly timeless production; taking inspiration from the golden era of recording, but never laboriously emulating.
It sounds like it could have been recorded on tape, but to be honest who cares when the songs are this great?
Imagine Curt Boettcher and Brian Wilson double teaming McCartney's 'Ram' and you wouldn't be far off.
Nowhere near enough bands sound like prime Harry Nilsson nowadays.
CUT YOUR KEY ALBUM REVIEW by CHRIS ROBERTS in UNCUT MAGAZINE...
West Coast Pop from the East Midlands. A wash of sunshine-soaked California sounds from, er, Leicester, this debut album was lost due to a computer failure a year ago and re-recorded from scratch by songwriter Joe Wiltshire and vocalist Marc Johnston. It acquires an accumulative effect of not-trying-to-hard charm. As the chord changes eke out nostalgia and optimism to equal degrees, highlights emerge - "Out My Pocket", "Song That Fades Away" - and Side Two of Abbey Road is happily evoked.
CUT YOUR KEY ALBUM REVIEW in THE WORD MAGAZINE...
Radio 4 have been running a series of programs this year re-evaluating 1968; I bet The Junipers haven't missed many. In the world of these Leicester cosmic pop sprites, The Notorious Byrd Brothers is forever spinning on the gramophone and the studes are in a state of perpetual forment. If only The Junipers themselves were similarly formented. The nearest they come to dreaded modernity is Sheena which draws its inspiration from noted envelope pushers The La's. Elsewhere, the likes of Gordie Can't Swim and Mortimer Snerd push fearlessly forth into a place where Maxwell's Silver Hammer still clangs away joyously.
ALBUM REVIEW OF "CUT YOUR KEY" in ROCK N REEL MAGAZINE...
In a parallel universe The Junipers were born on the West Coast of America in the late 1960s and not in present day Leicester. The outfit, which is essentially songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Wiltshire and vocalist Marc Johnston, nonetheless do a convincing job of re-creating the era with loving attention.
Debut album Cut Your Key is full of twelve string guitars, a random collection of antique instruments and plangent melodies.
The release's fifteen tracks are a lightly psychedelic cocktail of The Beatles 'Dear Prudence' by way of Big Star's 'Thirteen'.
The lovelorn vocals on 'Out My Pocket' and the blissed out pop of 'Sunnydown Ave' perfectly soundtrack a long Summer holiday filled with unrequited lust and lemonade floaters, while the title track 'Sheena' encapsulate a beach party hosted by Simon and Garfunkel and Brian Wilson.
In common with The Ruby Suns, this authentic sound is undercut by moments of humorous whimsy, such as ramshackle instrumental 'Little May Rose' and the self explanatory 'Wobbly Interlude'. It's such intervals that ensure Cut Your Key is peppered with quiet charm, despite it's unashamed nostalgia.
CUT YOUR KEY ALBUM REVIEW by BUCKETFULL OF BRAINS MAGAZINE...
Remember those early 70's TV commercials which were awash in technicolor, where flora and fauna gently undulated in the background? Well, Cut Your Key, the debut album by these Leicester lads, is the aural equivalent of that, as every song is bursting with kaleidoscopic goodness!
Mixing equal parts baroque, psychedelic, and sunshine pop sensibilities, but with a darker than usual undercurrent (moonshine pop?), songwriter Joe Wiltshire will tantalize your neurons on every turn,marrying a gentleness with a sort of of furtive power, not unlike The Fantastic Something on steroids.
Standout cuts include the Left Banke influenced 'Gordie Can't Swim', the delightful, fairytale like 'Callooh Callay!' and a couple of tunes 'Out My Pocket' and 'Song That Fades Away' which are very much the British equivalent of 60's pych pop legends Sagittarius and The Millennium. Add the down-hominess of 'Already Home' and 'So the Feeling Looms' and The Junipers have an album that will simultaneously give you chills and make you feel warm all over.
CUT YOUR KEY REVIEW on AMERICANA UK...
The Junipers "Cut Your Key" (San Remo Records, 2008
OLD INTERVIEW with ELIZABETH KLISIEWICZ
Going back to the start, main songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Wiltshire explains he set the group in motion in the usual fashion. Hearing music that inspired him, he remembers, "The Junipers started after I heard the first Emitt Rhodes album. Hearing that, I thought I'd go and get my own recording gear and make my own Emitt Rhodes album. I didn't have the confidence to do it all on myself and I had to get my mate Marc Johnston who lived down the road a few doors away who was into The Beatles and stuff to sing on it. He was the cocky confident one so that worked."
Like many such talented musicians, the band toiled away in relative obscurity, releasing three fine albums. The first dropped in 2008 Cut Your Key and two gorgeous records with singer Robyn Gibson followed. The first with Robyn was 2012's incandescent Paint the Ground, and the best of all, the other is quite possibly 2016's finest record, Red Bouquet Fair. Yet as far as critical acclaim back home goes, Wiltshire opines, "It's been received as well as we'd hoped it would for a small, independent , little-known band". Despite this wry response, eight years ago, the first Junipers album had received raves from from music critics and radio support from the BBC. When asked if they thought they were on the verge of breaking big Wiltshire avers, "When you're in a band and you start getting told you're going to be on the radio, you think, 'That's it, we've done it!' But then we came back down to Earth."
Still Red Bouquet Fair has done relatively well. Explains Gibson, "The albums are quite limited releases, so selling out, for Paint the Ground was pleasingly quick. Red Bouquet Fair has nearly all gone on vinyl too. We think Sugarbush Records are planning another coloured re-press already." And when asked about the long hiatus between their first two LP's, Gibson shrugs, "There's no rush. That's how long it takes us to get an album made. We record songs very gradually, but only in short two or three hour sessions, once or twice a week. I'd be happy to do it everyday, but we do all work and have families and so forth, so we just have to grab the time we can."
Such care taken is obvious when you hear classic tracks such as "Dandelion Man" with it's Love - meets - The Zombies melodic structure. When asked about the influences, the affable gents are all over the map, ranging from The Beach Boys to XTC and The Byrds. No matter the source, it's clear that they've been sipping from some prodigious creative springs, all to treat fans to a beautifully cultivated musical garden. It may take a while, but there will likely be more.
The Junipers - Dandelion Man
Monday, 23 September 2024
BIG TAKEOVER REVIEW OF RED BOUQUET FAIR...
The Junipers - Red Bouquet Fair (digital-Bandcamp/vinyl-Sugarbush Records)
19 June 2016
I’ve had a bit of time to let this beautiful psych inflected pop record settle around me like a fine gossamer haze. It’s easily one of the best records I’ve heard this year, or any year for that matter. Do the words enchanting, delightful, magical, and incandescent mean something to you when you think of music? If not, then one listen to this record will fill the bill for you. This Leicester UK five piece fronted by singer Robyn Gibson have created a 60s pastiche of elegant and timeless songs you won’t soon forget. Red Bouquet Fair contains all the hallmarks of the aforementioned styles, including indelible melodies and sweet harmonies. Listening again and again is like a kaleidoscopic merry-go-round, a sonic tapestry that will leave you whirling in glee as it spins infinitely.
The title track has sitar, banjo, and heavenly keyboards, and merits a longer tune. “Follow Loretta” has a firm grasp on The Beatles catalogue, from sterling harmony vocals to lovely, Abbey Road styled piano. “Dig Me Up” is another winning track, mining the same vein as Pugwash but adding layers of billowing psych to the mix. “Burning Pages” has a loping cadence, with frothy keyboards, delicate acoustic guitar, and really trippy vocals in spots. In short, it is exactly the sort of song that sucks me in and holds me captive. “Esmeranda” is bright and sunny, rather like the sort of late 60s West Coast folk rock I dig so much.
“Here Come The Winds” is heavily flecked with psych, right down to the sitar drones that run through it. And oh, the vocals, surely angels had a hand with this one. “Like a Merry Go Round” is equally beautiful, and fans of The Left Banke, The Byrds, and Emitt Rhodes will groove on this one. “The Fisherman” is light and delicate, ringing guitars curling perfectly around Robyn Gibson’s voice like fine smoke rings. The shimmering “Summer Queen” is gently reminiscent of any of the great British Invasion bands, and it mesmerizes and stuns with its beauty. “The Old Man Mini Suite” chimes and sparkles and the arrangement is superb. “Say Goodbye” is the perfect way to tie this one up, 2:59 minutes of watery, tripped out vocals and very Beatlesque. I only make these comparisons as the highest compliment, for many bands who trod this hallowed ground are derivative. But The Junipers are brilliant tunesmiths who need to be known by a lot more people. If you enjoy exquisitely crafted psych pop with a clear nod to the 60s, then you will adore this record.
RED BOUQUET FAIR ALBUM REVIEW on THE ACTIVE LISTENER BLOG..
The Junipers - Red Bouquet Fair
Reviewed by Nathan Ford
I'm now absolutely certain that Sugarbush Records' Markus Holler has managed to somehow implant a chip in me that relays to him exactly which albums I want him to release. His latest batch of releases are absolute perfection. There are four of them in total, but I'm just going to focus on my favourite of them today (more on the others soon).
The Junipers, for those who haven't been paying attention, are one of this decade's most important, unheralded guitar pop bands. Their previous album "Paint the Ground" is one of my favourites of the last few years. I'd previously thought of it as one of those rare, perfect pop records, but it can't quite have been as this new album is even better. While "Paint the Ground" had a lovely pastoral tinge, "Red Bouquet Fair" is much more of a classic pop album, with songs that reach back to the sixties for inspiration without sounding tied to that decade or overly reverential. It's obvious that these guys have fantastic record collections, but in no way do these songs sound like an attempt to replicate the music from those collections.
There are strong hooks on every single one of these songs, and these lads sure do know their way around a harmony; check out the lush vocal layering on "Summer Queen". Absolutely stunning. Elsewhere, they use period embellishments sparingly for maximum effect. Particularly effective is the 12 string guitar solo on "Like a Merry Go Round", while the sitar led "Her Come The Winds" is a marvelous psych-pop gem. And don't get me started on the amazing kaleidoscopic psychedelia of "Burning Pages".
And while classic harmony and psych-pop are the most obvious touchstones here, other influences rear their heads; "When the Bird Has Flown" is a lovely, moody choral harmony piece ala Midlake or the Fleet Foxes, while "Dig Me Up" brings to mind some of the brit-pop sounds of the mid nineties which have aged more gracefully than others.
Apart from the extremely solid songcraft, and those luscious harmonies, the main secret to "Red Bouquet Fair"s success is in the arrangements and production. It's all beautifully layered, with imaginative touches that create a distinctive sound for the band, while preventing any of the songs sounding samey. Or to put it in a simpler fashion, it's obvious that these songs are all the work of the same band, but each is a fresh creation which distinguishes itself from its predecessors.
It's the sort of album which should make you a little bit angry at the injustices of the world. Paradoxically, I'd also imagine that it's pretty much impossible to remain angry while listening to "Red Bouquet Fair". This should by all rights be a major label release with constant airplay and household name status for the band, and had the Junipers been around to release this 50, 40 or even 20 years ago, that may well have been the case, but we don't currently live in a world where what the Junipers have to offer is in vogue with the masses. For us lucky few though, it's a comforting, magical experience. Absolutely wonderful.
PAINT THE GROUND ALBUM REVIEW on SOUNDS GOOD LOOKS GOOD...
"Paint The Ground" by THE JUNIPERS – A Review Of The 2012 Album.
"…Let The Feeling Flow…" – Paint The Ground by THE JUNIPERS
Initially released in 2012 as a 10-track Download only – someone in Sugarbush Records thinks "Paint The Ground" deserves another shot at stardom – and I’d say when it comes to Leicester’s Folk-Rock act THE JUNIPERS - they'd be right.
This is a gorgeous little album – chock full of pleasing melodies – and now it’s being reissued in April 2014 with a bonus track on the VINYL LP (“Everywhere Was You” – Track 3 on Side 1). It's a limited edition of 300 copies (with a different sleeve) on Sugarbush SB600.
Stylistically - think a folksy variant of The LA’s with just as many catchy tunes. A sort of English BIG STAR with perhaps a taste of MATTHEWS SOUTHERN COMFORT and even the country melodies of THE JAYHAWKS. The painted art of the front cover might make you think this is perhaps Retro Psych – it isn’t (although the swirling song structures ape that sound at times). The Junipers feel more New Folk than Psych - like a hybrid of all of the above but with the added stew of Sixties Pop like THE ASSOCIATION or even the jangle of THE BYRDS.
Beautifully produced by Gavin Monhagon (Kings Of Leon, The Editors and Ryan Adams) - the opener "Look Into My River" hooks you immediately with its guitars, flute and layered soft vocals - while “Dandelion Man” ups the happy pace to a point where you may feel an uncontrollable urge to place a dandelion in the Afro hair of a foreign student on the London Underground.
“Golden Fields In Golden Sun” is pretty but perhaps takes the hippy lyrics a step too far – but the superb “Antler Season” is a musical nugget that will surely grace a “Juno” type soundtrack any day now. “Phoebus Filled The Town” even has a Steve Hackett guitar vibe (lyrics from it title this review) - sounding not unlike “Horizons” on “Foxtrot" at times. Very tasty indeed…
On the lovely “They Lived Up In The Valley” The Junipers sing of “such a quiet family…kept things to themselves…”
Well when you succumb to this gorgeous album – like me - you won’t be keeping quiet about them or this…well done lads.
PAINT THE GROUND REVIEW on TERRASCOPE...
THE JUNIPERS - PAINT THE GROUND
(LPs from Sugarbush Records)
Specialising in limited edition re-issues of hard to find psych/pop albums, Sugarbush records are doing a fine job if theses three releases are anything to go by, beautifully pressed with delightful artwork and a touch of quality about them.
Originally released as a download in 2012, “Paint the Ground” is a wonderful collection of jangly, gently flowing pop psych that is ideal for those hazy summer days. Opening sweetly with the rippling melodies of “Look Into My River”, the band hook you in immediately, a mellow 1971 West-Coast vibe pervading the air as they get into their groove. On “Dandelion Man”, there is a more up to date guitar jangle, a slightly heavier edge although this is softened by gorgeous harmonies and a a dancing flute, summer is definitely here. Easily an early highlight. “Everywhere Was You” is another gentle tune with an almost Eastern motif running through it, the song ending far too soon, although the delightful softness of “In My Reverie” make up for this the song re-defining mellow with ease, reminding me of The Lilac Time jamming with CSNY in their laconic approach. To end side one “Phoebus Filled The Town” maintains the delicate air, notes shimmering in a musical heat haze, taking back to 1967 and the summer of love, or at least your rose-tinted memories and wishes of the era.
After a flawless side of music, I am pleased to say that side 2 is just as good with opener “Antler Season” glowing like a evening sun, a radiance of sound that sets the tone for the rest of the side. Reminding me of Gorky's “Golden Fields in Golden Sun” sounds just as it should, the flute adding a delicate beauty to the tune, whilst “Song to Selkie” has an upbeat approach that will get you grooving around the garden whilst smiling like a loon.
Certain of their quality, the last three songs turn out to be the best, proving this is a band of quality and substance, the listener easily immersed in the flowing contemplative mood of “Willow and the Water Mill”, blissed out by the pastoral wonder of “They Lived Up In The Valley” and then energised and amused by the sweet pulse of the Beatle-esque “Pearly Home”, the song leaving you with a smile on your face.
Damn this album is good, those in need of a warm summer sparkle need look no further.
The Junipers - They Lived Up in the Valley
EUPHONIOUS TROLLEY EP REVIEW ON JANGLE POP HUB...
EP Review: The Junipers - The Junipers Euphonious Trolley EP 1 (2013) (Self-released)
On their previous full length releases, Paint The Ground (2012) and Red Bouquet Fair (2016) The Junipers have shown themselves to be the fine exponents of a heavy psychedelic, Byrdsian vibe that has become their signature sound.
As such I was very surprised when I eventually purchased a copy of the 2016's 12 String High various artist compilation (released by the Spanish, You Are The Cosmos label) which included a Junipers track (And in my Dreams - see above) that undressed the usual psychedelic influences and just left the most naked pure jangle-pop sound. It was enchanting, but very unlike The Junipers usual style.
Digging about to find out where the track had come from the track I eventually established it was on a 2013 download only EP, advertised with a somewhat absurd cover art and with an equally ridiculous title.
Having downloaded the EP from Bandcamp it soon became obvious that the title was the only thing that was ridiculous about this release as it contains four of the most beautifully pure modern day slices of jangle-pop that has been produced by any genuinely contemporary band in the last 5 years, with the bizarrely named track Jenny Won't Ride the Roller Coaster (see below) heading 15 glorious minutes of aural pleasure.
So why the stylistic change for such a brief interlude? After much internet searching and digging about I eventually found a now defunct blog (last updated in December 2015) which contains an article on the source of this somewhat atypical release (click here for full article from the superb Bite it Deep blog that is actually written by Pete Gough who plays guitar for the band and used his blog as a vehicle to express his appreciation for lost 60's and 70's pop treasures).
Bizarrely this in an EP of 'discards'! These are the tracks that did not fit into their heavy psychedelic vibe as they were considered too 'poppy'. As such it was the intention of the band to release them on a series of EP's under the 'Ephonious Trolley' moniker.
Plainly this self released project may well have been shelved considering their has never been a follow up to this initial volume since 2013 and the original plans (as per the Bancamp profile of this release) to one day produce an album of these poppy discard EP's may now never happen...which is a massive shame as it undoubtedly would have been an essential addition to our collections.
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PAINT THE GROUND ALBUM REVIEW from POP JUNKIE...
The Junipers – Paint The Ground, a review and an apology
I think I owe the Junipers something of an apology. A couple of years back a friend of mine raved about the debut album, so I bought the CD and played it – probably only twice. Then a little while later I saw the band supporting Spearmint at the ICA. Except I didn’t pay them a great deal of attention as I was busy propping up the bar.
So I was more than little surprised when I got sent the band’s latest EP, the marvelously titled Euphonious Trolley, to review for a magazine and feel head over heels in love with it. While it is heading for pastiche territory – which is why perhaps the band chose to issue it kind of under pseudonym – the quality of the songs is incredible. And In My Dreams, which kicks off with a lovely Revolver style guitar burst sounds so good it could be an outtake from the first Orgone Box album, while Oh Gilbert, I Need Help, (I want to write a song like Jet) is as perkily tuneful as many of the songs it musically (and lyrically) references.
‘Maybe they should shelve their serious stuff for a while and focus on this – it is what they were clearly born to do,’ I wrote.
Except that after writing the review I went out and checked out their second album Paint The Ground and immediately felt like a bit of a chump.
Originally issued as a download, though it has just come out on vinyl courtesy of the fine folks at Sugar Bush, Paint The Ground isn’t just The Junipers’ masterpiece, it is one of the best psych albums issued in this country in the last decade. If you ever loved the more gentle side of The Teenage Fanclub, or maybe even Shack and especially their Here’s Tom With The Weather classic you will find so much to swoon over here.
It starts innocently enough with a slightly throwaway tune called Look Into My River, but then comes the first nugget the stunning Dandelion Man. By the time you get to track three though Willow and the Water Mill, the band have packed their picnic headed off into the English countryside and crafted a gorgeous piece of pop that’s part English folk and part the autumnal early 70s stuff that pops up on some of the Fading Yellow compilations. Accordion intro, gentle acoustic guitars, whispered vocals it really is stunning. If anything, In My Reverie which follows is even more fragile. That is until a striking guitar break and some heavenly harmonies in the fade.
By the time you hit side two (that sounds so good doesn’t it!) there’s a semi-instrumental track called Antler Season whose wistful guitars recall both The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and the contemporary band most indebted to them The Clientele.
Gem after gem follows until the needle hits the run out groove after a Notorious Byrd Brothers inspired finale Pearly Home. If you like The Byrds, Shack, or the gentler side of psychedelia you really have to hear this.
Here’s hoping it won’t be too long before they deliver a follow up.
RED BOUQUET FAIR ALBUM REVIEW on POP FOREVER SITE...
The Junipers – “Red Bouquet Fair”
“don’t get too deep or your head starts to crack”
I first discovered this wonderful pop/psych band in 2008 from a tip by an Audities member (online group). It was an album called “Cut your Key,” and a very exciting discovery. Switch to June 2016, and I read a review in Big Takeover by Elizabeth Klisiewicz of “Red Bouquet Fair.” She called it “enchanting, delightful, magical, and incandescent.” Without hesitation, I purchased it. Her praise was enough for me.
Don’t know a lot about them. They are from Leicester England. Joe Wiltshire composes the songs and Robyn Gibson is the lead singer. The music reflects their love for the early British groups like the Beatles and the Zombies. And that music is a lovely mix of pop with psychedelic accents, and beautiful vocal harmonies. The opening title cut is an instrumental with a sitar and banjo in the mix. Key cuts:
- The swirling psych “Burning Pages”
- The chiming guitar highlighting “Like A Merry Go Round” “Chase the shadows as they break on the ground in the fading light”
- The folk guitar and heavenly harmonies on “When the bird has flown”
- Classic Beatles-like piano-driven “The Old Man Mini Suite”
- My favorite track, the layered harmonies on “Summer Queen” “She’d be the summer queen no more than she deserves it’s been her lifelong dream…” So Beautiful!
The album ends with the appropriate “Say Goodbye” and more Beatles inspired vocals.
This is a classic pop album and deserves to be discovered by fans of The Beatles, The Left Bank, or Midlake. I got lucky and found it.
JUNIPERS BAND REVIEW ON EVERY RECORD TELLS A STORY BLOG...
Leicester has had a pretty good run of it of late. It had previously been a source of fun for Londoners being asked for directions by tourists trying to pronounce the famous London square of that name (“Can you tell me the way to Ly-sess-ter square?” we would be asked whilst stifling a smirk).
Aside from that, it was known for hosting the Walkers Crisps factory and being the birthplace of Thomas Cook holidays and the jug-eared England striker Gary Lineker. However, Britain’s tenth biggest city has had something of a renaissance. Not only is it now rather grandly the final resting place of Richard III, it also hosts football’s Premier League Champions, albeit they have just sacked their manager, which just goes to show some people are never happy.
Lineker himself is rising ever more to National Treasure status, as he provides as much opposition to the Government as he used to do to Brazil on the football field – more, some would say than the actual opposition party via his Twitter account.
From a musical perspective, until recently the most famous export from Leicester was the man who broke The Beatles’ record breaking string of number one hits by keeping Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane from the No. 1 spot.
Sounds good until you find out that person was Englebert Humperdinck.
But more recently Leicester has produced a slightly edgier and indie-fied version of Englebert in the form of Kasabian, a genuine international headliner and producer of indie-bangers.
And since 2000, another Leicester band has been quietly producing music, and it is this band that deserves your attention today.
The band is called The Junipers.
You may not have heard of them: they didn’t appear on The Brits alongside Ed Sheeran or at The Grammys alongside Bruno Mars, but The Junipers will appeal to fans of the quieter moments of Teenage Fanclub, modern day psychedelic rock bands such as Temples (who hail from nearby Kettering) and Tame Impala, and in particular such psychedelic ’60s pop as Love, The Byrds and The Beatles, and the sunshine pop of Sagittarius and The Beach Boys.
The Junipers’ third album in nine years (they aren’t the most prolific it seems), Red Bouquet Fair, came out late last year, and not only is it one of the best albums I have heard in ages, it’s also being released in a very limited run on coloured vinyl by Tunbridge Wells’ finest record label Sugarbush Records (about whom we’ll find out more another time).
Here are a few things we need to know about The Junipers:
- Band members are Robyn Gibson (vocals), Joe Wiltshire (guitar), Pete Gough (guitar), Ash Selden (bass) and Ben Marshall (drums).
- Their debut 2008 album “Cut Your Key” was recorded both at their own studios in Leicester and at Birmingham’s Magic Garden studios, and was a mild success, gaining radio play, favourable reviews and a support slot with the aforementioned Kasabian.
- Follow up “Paint The Ground” was released in 2012, and improved upon the debut.
- 2016 album “Red Bouquet Fair”, their third album, is a further leap forward, containing songs that would improve Pet Sounds.
Yes, it’s that good.
It is a masterful work of pop precision, an album utterly accomplished. Like Southend’s Asylums’ “Killer Brain Waves”, Red Bouquet Fair is a great example of a terrific record being created with a DIY ethic outside of the mainstream music industry.
What makes this DIY movement different from previous movements is that bands like The Junipers are releasing the most beautiful home-produced albums that sound like they were created in a luxurious studio. There’s real craft in these mini-symphonies, in these perfect folk-pop moments of sunshine.
As winter draws to a close, perhaps it’s time to bring a bit of sunshine into your life? An instant injection of vitamin D…
OLD CUT YOUR KEY ALBUM REVIEW from POWER POPAHOLIC
The Junipers "Cut Your Key"
The Junipers are songwriter Joe Wiltshire and vocalist Marc Johnston who, together with a group of friends in Leicester, make upbeat, chiming pitch perfect baroque and psychedelic pop with echoes of early Bee Gees, The Curiosity Shop and The Zombies. If you are looking for big loud electric guitar riffs, they are not here, but everything else is. Especially that McCartney baseline driven song structure. “Gordie Can’t Swim” opens with a Beatles meets Elephant Six collective retro sound, full of hooks that stick and harmonies that float along the melody. This sets the tone for the album, and despite a few slow instrumental breaks – it’s brilliant in every way. “Fly The Yellow Kite” is a shimmering pop confection that resembles a Wondermints composition. “Already Home” uses a Monkees-like country vibe with those impressive basslines and harmonies to great effect here and it’s a awesome pop song. Using a collection of instruments from of sitars, mellatrons, organs, kazoos, piano, strings, fuzz guitar will have fans of sunshine dappled psyche pop doing backflips. “Out of My Pocket” is adds a dash of prog organ to an acoustic guitar melody and, and “Sheena” is a very Wackers-like folk pop gem. Another standout is the Genesis-Klaatu beauty called “Song That Fades Away” with a sweet harpsichord solo in the middle. Other straight pop songs here “Mortimer” and “Sunnydown Avenue” resemble The Hudson Brothers in sound and spirit. The albums quieter moments concentrates on piano and gentle folk guitar similar to Elliot Smith. If you don’t enjoy the retro-psyche pop genre then you should pass on this, however fans of Andrew Sandoval, The Pillbugs, and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” will gobble this one up. There are so many layers of impressive instrumentation and arrangements here I’m letting this one into the top ten of 2008. Again, no filler on this impressive debut, and I’ve added two tracks to the Lala player on the right for you to hear.
PAINT THE GROUND ALBUM REVIEW ON THE QUIETUS BLOG...
On the stroke of British Summer Time, The Junipers dropped the vinyl version of their newest LP Paint The Ground, doling out instant vitamin D after the bleak midwinter. As is often the case with Leicester’s premier pop psyche outfit, they delivered just when it was needed, channelling the music of Curt Boettcher’s Sagittarius, and Macca at his most dreamy. Just like that, the flowers started to bloom.
While rock music is currently obsessing over the cocaine 70s and 80s, flitting between wanting to be Fleetwood Mac (hey Haim!) or Blind Faith (you okay Arctic Monkeys?), a mini psychedelic revival has been going on, unfreezing like a brook in spring.
While bands like Stealing Sheep and Gruff Rhys’ various solo projects get the attention, bands like The Junipers quietly plug away in their burrow, radiating pure sunshine and good vibes. As unfashionable as it is, this band are determined to apply their love of pop music to an uncynical, good vibration, with a whole load of craft and bespoke nursery melodies drifting through multi-layered, hooky 60s pop.
But don’t expect Beatle Boots, wild fuzz guitar or grand concepts.
Album opener ‘Look Into My River’ doesn’t so much herald its arrival, but rather, creeps into view before flourishing into achingly gorgeous low-lit mellotron goodness, making way for the more jangly freakbeat of ‘Dandelion Man’.
Elsewhere, the band go from scrapbook shedpop (think Alfie’s first Twisted Nerve EPs) with ‘Antler Season’, to the bounding fizz of ‘Song To Selkie’. It isn’t all sunshine and lollipops though – cut in the grooves is a woozy, unsettling element. ‘They Lived Up In The Valley’ is a glorious pop-folk song, which flickers with the hue of a Cold War public information film, which made Boards of Canada such a seductive proposition.
From the first album Cut Your Key, through the singles and EPs that led to Paint The Ground, the careful precision of The Junipers, and the unswerving dedication to the feeling of the 60s, rather than a tedious facsimile, has seen the band turn into one of the greatest bands to grace the underground. If you’re a fan of El Goodo, Kevin Ayers, Shack, Emitt Rhodes or Broadcast, you’ll fine tons to love.
The shallowest part of the stream may make the loudest noise, which means the sumptuous quiet groove of The Junipers can be easily missed – and that is the lousy state of indie music in 2014. The self-promoters and loudmouths, the manic pixie dream girls with their guitars and faux-awkwardness, the cosmic disco bullshitters and blokerock boors are all you can hear in the swill of popular rock, but in that moment when everyone has shouted themselves hoarse, a band like The Junipers appears, with their perfect little symphonies, melting the hearts and minds of anyone who stumbles across them.
If you like pop in the pure form, delicate as it is catchy, you need to let The Junipers in.
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