Album Review - Error to Introspection
I’m not going to lie, writing this review feels like a conflict of interest; I appear in a few places for the credits of this album. But, that being said, I wouldn’t review this album if I didn’t think it was astounding or noteworthy. Hopefully this won’t discourage you from giving this a listen, because Juniper Douglas transcended my own expectation for this album.
Juniper Douglas is an enigma. You could call them art-pop. You could call them experimental. You could call them performance art too. However, one thing is certain, you will have no luck pinning them down to put them in a nice labeled box; Juniper Douglas will dance and shimmer away from any label you throw at them. Their air of mystery is so thick, I’m not sure members of the band could tell you what they represent: even if they wanted to.
To ask “Who is Juniper Douglas?” is already a step in the wrong direction. While there exists a few core members in this genre-bending outfit, Juniper Douglas is a conglomeration of an artistic society hailing from the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Their self-written description boasts a whopping 30 different members in their artistic soup. Listening to their first release, you can’t help but think “Oh, that makes sense.” Error to Introspection dips and dives into nearly any genre you can think of, with each song composed of stupefyingly diverse sound palettes. Under normal circumstances, this is a dangerous thing to do, it can easily be exhausting for the listener to be dragged through soundscape after soundscape. Yet, regardless of this ridiculously complex musical tapestry, each song flows seamlessly onto the next as if knitted together by a small army of very dedicated grannies.
Juniper Douglas does not make writing a song-by-song review easy. Even the first song, “Promiseland Bakery”, manages to sashay through a variety of feels and genres; starting first with a bouncy 80’s drum machine backed by a rich acoustic guitar and harps, then into a quick jazz bridge, but only right before slamming head first into a forest of Latin style rhythms that’ll make even your most accomplished sambista blush. Finally, emerging from the woodwork of woodblocks and flamenco guitar comes a haunting piano line which sucks all the warmth from the world, leaving you cold, shivering, and wondering, “Where the hell did this come from?” The weirdest part of all of this, is that it makes sense. At no point does “Promiseland Bakery” do a turn in genre or feel that feels convoluted or contrived, this song as smooth as silk. If I could, I’d wear this song as a shirt.
Other high-points of this album include tracks: “Fibastimpastastan” (I had to check four different times that I spelled that correctly), Error, Mush Marsh, G and Endo Friendo. Each song dwelling in sonic world that I could see deserving of its own album. However, Error to Introspection is not without fault, a few songs such as “B. George Kieth Beekneeth/Fun Gus” overstay their welcome a little bit, while the track “Introspection” is musical equivalent to an inside joke at a party where no one knows each other. But don’t let that discourage you, this album is jam packed with songs that’ll leave you craving more and more. And who knows, if you hang around long enough, maybe you’ll be in on the joke too