London-based four piece junodream are amongst the most impressive bands rising from the renaissance that UK guitar music is experiencing. Friends from school, the band have impressed since they first emerged, with the progression of their sound apparent through their run of releases to date.
Following their explorative and conceptual ’21 EP, “Travel Guide”, the band have returned this summer with two singles that feel like their most mature and concise work to date. July’s dream rock offering, “The Beach” felt like an ode to several iconic styles from the last thirty years of guitar music, with the aforementioned comeback single now followed by “Death Drive”. The fresh offering has an undeniable air about its tone and timbre, with the vocal’s boasting an anthemic quality atop the groove-laden instrumental palette.
The two singles will feature on the band’s highly anticipated forthcoming debut body of work, Pools of Colour, set for release early next year. As they gear up towards the LP’s release, we spoke to the boys, delving into their early days, the writing of their most significant project to date, and everything in between.
Watch the visuals for “Death Drive”…
Read the exclusive interview…
What have you been up to this summer?
Sitting in the rain, waiting for the sun to poke through.
Who and what inspires you to create?
Someone asked this yesterday. We literally don’t know any other way. We’ve been making music together since we were at school and it’s our unconditional way of life now. Can’t even picture the void that would be created if we didn’t make music. It’s good for the soul.
How did you guys first form as a band?
We’ve been friends through childhood, and have worked through many musical iterations as we’ve been growing up. Each version has had its own style (and pitfalls). We started junodream in 2018, but this time we knew we wanted to make something more authentic, more us. The culmination of the things we learned and the confidence we gained by making mistakes. I think we got it (more) right with junodream.
What is it about working with each other that brings out the best in your creativity?
We know how each other makes music now and it’s a different process for each of us. The best moments come through the right combinations. A verse from here, a chorus from there, a riff from over here. It helps keep a balance of creative intention which feels unique. Also, it helps that we’re best friends.
How would you describe your essence as an act?
We want you to know it’s junodream before you hear a sound – we want to invite you into a world. From the design to the sonics, we want you to feel absorbed by “somewhere else” but still feel like you’re on home ground. We want to make junodream: the thing, not junodream: the band. Still working on it, but we hope the album helps illustrate this.
Since forming, how have you developed your sound?
We came back to where we started. We started by releasing tracks like To the Moon and Galactica in the early days, which are very “junodream”. Then we took the bus somewhere else for a bit, a bit Americana, a bit garage band, a bit ballady, and then back to junodream. It feels like the right place to be and this album is a consolidation of that arrival.
Pools of Colour is a really provoking album name, where did that originate?
The title track of the album is an allegory about the first human to receive a neural link. At first, they’re determined in their pursuit for technological perfection. But, it makes them go blind. Now, all they see are pools of colour. And that’s actually a relief. Put another way, the world is progressing at lightning speed, and we’re all being swept up in it. Sometimes you miss the grass growing through the concrete. You see life’s little bursts of colour when you slow down and look. The whole album is about different perspectives, different scales and how they confer meaning.
Visual language is also really important to us and the title Pools of Colour allowed us to work our logo colours into the story telling. Pockets of our red, blue, green, yellow and white are all over everything we do. Kind of like world building. Ultimately, it’s just really fun.
Talk us through the creative process around the album?
It’s contributions from all corners. We always create a big playlist of demos before each release and whittle them down piece by piece until the final output makes sense holistically. We put ‘Pools of Colour’ together in demo form at our own studio (Shabby Road) in early 2022 and then re-recorded it with a fantastic producer, Simon Byrt, over summer. A lot of the demo stems are still in the final LP, we love that sort of home-recorded character being in there.
What can we expect, stylistically and thematically?
Pools of Colour is about coming to terms with insignificance. Scale is always an important factor. An ant probably doesn’t know what a motorway is. By the same token, are there things around us so big we simply can’t understand them? Social stuff, emotion, space itself. Even if these sorts of thoughts about light and dark are daunting, the little moments of laughter and beauty are what bring you back to Earth. And that’s a good place to be, at the end of it all.
Where do you want to take your artistry?
We want to keep doing this for as long as possible. Take a new look at the world with each album. We’ve already got a 60-song shortlist for Album 2 – and a name! We’re going to just keep doing our thing and take care with it. Hopefully, people think it’s something worth following.
What’s to come from you this year?
We are doing a UK tour in September to some places we’re rarely visit. First time in Aberdeen, Sheffield and Oxford. Playing in Birmingham again. London too, but that’s about sold out now. Festivals in Leeds and Manchester. More songs to release from the album. More live videos. More everything. We’re rolling now. It’s probably the most excited we’ve ever been.