Juno
DeSoto Records
This fivesome channels the echoes of guitar mania that still resonate in the rain-soaked alleys and avenues of their hometown Seattle. While trends these days favor the brief and accessible (read: radio friendly), Juno draws out the musical experience, building rich, complex pieces with a dense weave of three guitars. That's right, three. Arlie Carstens, Gabe Carter, and Jason Guyer opt for the expansive, the repetitive, the spacious, the spacey. Their sound is incisive and addictive. And while the guitars are crucial to the band's sound, they are just one piece of the big picture. Let's not forget to applaud Juno's formidable rhythm section, which carries on beneath the din with a pounding fatness. Finally, though, we need to tip our hats to Carstens's voice and lyrics, which state his surrealistic case before the jury in the harsh tones of "Rodeo Programmers," but make their most compelling argument alongside Jen Wood's subtle harmonies in the sadly gorgeous "A Listening Ear."
Those songs both appear on Juno's first full-length, This Is the Way It Goes and Goes and Goes, alongside the featured "All Your Friends Are Comedians," which showcases the band's capacity to create rousing anthems out of pure bombastic might. Despite a ongoing succession of bassists and drummers, Juno's permanent members (the guitarists) plunged ahead with a second full-length, A Future Lived in Past Tense. Without neglecting the group's emo/hardcore roots, the album explores constantly evolving moods and atmospheres through a multitude of rock textures. The intricately arranged, delicate-to-loud "When I Was In," which shows up three songs in, demonstrates this tendency.
Jeanne Acceturo
last updated:
10/15/01
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