Junip, the Swedish band fronted by José González, with Elias Araya on drums and Tobias Winterkorn on keys, has just released the new single ‘Line of Fire’ in preview off their sophomore album 'Junip', following their previous 2010 release 'Fields'.
And the track is a truly enthralling 5-minute-and-half symphony, going crescendo with José González’s warm and soothing vocals. The song is going on repeat right now on my computer and it is more satisfying at each listening, growing like a wild fire, turning into a beautiful upbeat mantra that you never want to stop, reaching a full emotional catharsis twice with the use of a rich instrumentation of strings and subtle percussion.
As usual they managed to build a hypnotic groove with an interesting melody floating just above it, mixing influences, giving us a lesser pop version of the Verves flirting with a layered kraukrock jam style,… however their sound seems even bolder than before.
Junip once again recorded the album in Gothenberg, Sweden with producer Don Alsterberg, and José González commented on the making of this new album with these statements in the press releass:
‘All the ups and downs were very ‘Junip,’ so titling it with our name seemed appropriately iconic. It’s truly a band album’.
‘We’re somewhere between a German jazz band and an African pop band’
‘We’d press ‘record’ when we started jamming, and end up with a pretty complete song structure when we finished,”
But you can judge by yourself, listen and download the majestic and captivating ‘Line of Fire’ below before the release of 'Junip', out April 23rd.