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Juno Follow a Goddess' Lead by Gaston Wheeler | ||
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The Roman goddess Juno was known for being headstrong and assertive, even when the powers-that-were didn't entirely approve. So where did it get her? All the way to the top. She became Queen of the Goddesses. It wouldn't appear that the Seattle-based indie rock outfit of the same name would have a lot in common with the wife (and sister, incidentally) of Jupiter. But these guys do seem to have a taste for doing things their own way. | |
| Here's what frontman Arlie Carstens says about Juno's latest album, Future Lived in Past Tense..."This record isn't really about me, or any one person, or what they did to me, or to you, or to the guy down the street. It's not entirely about being young and regretful, and it's not exactly about being old and hopeful. It's a bunch of stories about people, and how the events of their past define who they are in the present and what they may become (or fear becoming) in the future." | ||
| If that gives you the idea that the record leaves itself open to a certain amount of interpretation, good for you. It does. Juno's second full-length release is filled with sadness and light, introspection and revelation. It's also filled with guitars that come from three directions. Carstens, Gabe Carter and Jason Guyer string together the riffs and chords that ride over Greg Ferguson's drums. Oddly, Juno has no resident bass player. The bottoms are provided here by Nate Mendel (Sunny Day Real Estate, Foo Fighters) and Nick Harmer (Death Cab for Cutie). | ||
| Juno came together in 1995 with Ferguson joining up two years later. There were a couple of seven-inch releases on different indie labels before they landed on DeSoto Records for their debut album, 1999's The Way it Goes and Goes and Goes. Carstens' career almost went and went and went when he broke four vertebrae in a snowboarding accident before the record was released. It was months before he could think about touring. Finally things fell into place and The Way was hailed as an emo-core masterpiece with long, lyrical processions that topped ten minutes and Pink Floydian guitar beds. | ||
| Future Lived in Past Tense continues to develop those same themes though it goes a little lighter on the emo. It opens with an instrumental, a trick not every band would attempt. Like almost everything that follows it, "Thousand Motors Pressed Upon the Heart" is thick and misty with reverb, conjuring up a dusky, if not altogether dark ambience. The mood lingers throughout the album, even on brisk numbers like "Covered With Hair" and "Help is on the Way." But that doesn't mean it's predictable. I'd never apply that adjective to a record that features an eight-minute spoken vignette-over-drum machine ("Things Gone and Things Still Here") halfway through. | ||
| For my money, the best cut is "When I Was In ___", a song driven by Ferguson's slightly quirky drum line. Also a strong point is "Killing it in a Quiet Way" which is anything but quiet. The sedate "Trail of Your Blood in the Snow" is interesting in an odd sort of way, though it took me a couple of listens to appreciate it. | ||
| There are a few cuts on Future Lived in Past Tense that may seem not welcoming at first, but that's often the way it is when a band is willing to test its limits and push them farther out. There's no telling where that attitude will lead this Juno, but it worked well for the goddess. | ||
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Source: musicbeyondradio.com (defunct .com ) aka audioether.com |
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