The Junipers have been at this since 2008, and their fifth album finds the Leicester four-piece circling back to the guitar-led sound of their earlier work. They recorded it themselves at their own studio, with Joe Wiltshire producing and Robyn Gibson handling the mastering, and that self-sufficiency shows in how lived-in it all sounds. The harmonies are stacked high, the melodies hook without fuss, and the production walks a line between polished and deliberately scuffed.
There's a clear thread running from sixties garage through eighties neo-psychedelia to early nineties shoegaze, though none of it feels like cosplay. Gibson's vocals sit forward in the mix, Wiltshire and Ash Selden share guitar, keys and bass duties, and Ben Marshall keeps the rhythms loose enough that nothing gets too tidy. One track dates back to their teens, reworked here, and that backwards glance seems to have unlocked something. The swirl and jangle are there, but so is a bit of grit.
If you grew up on Creation Records compilations or still think The Bends-era guitar tones haven't been bettered, this will make sense to you. It's not trying to reinvent anything. It just does the thing well.
