Swedish post-rock quartet JUNODEF return with the release of their hypnotising new single Heights, out on now via AWAL.
Instantly engaging, atmospheric soundscapes are able to soar effortlessly over the band’s signature spine-tingling sound. Karin Grönkvist’s (guitar / vocals) mesmerising lead vocals linger beautifully over the sombre back drop as unfurling melodies, distorted guitars, rumbling drums and sharp glitches of electronica captivate even further. Fans of PJ Harvey and Young Fathers will feel at home here.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with JUNODEF about their latest project, motivations, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
We don’t think we ever made an active decision that we were gonna play music from a specific genre or styles. We’d like to think that we started the other way around; instead of deciding which genre to play we want the sound to take shape out of all the band members, and their history of listening to music. In that way all the music we’ve ever been into has formed how we sound today.
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?
JUNODEF have been going for 3 years now, but all of us have been in other bands since our early teens. We released the single ‘Make You Die’ in 2015. At that time Tyra and Karin were the only band members, and did everything themselves (quite sloppy). Thankfully, Rode and Norea have joined since then and improved things immensely.
Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?
Inspiration and the urge to write and perform can come from basically anything, relations with people, different art forms or just a general feeling about something. And of course, from seeing other bands perform, especially seeing our friends play.
We think we all have a lot of different reasons to keep going, but we think one important aspect of being in a band for us, is that it gives us purpose. There’s never really time to question what we’re doing with our lives since we always have each other and our thing. It becomes a strong identity, and especially since we’ve been doing this for such a long time, being in a band and creating music has become a great part of our everyday life and who we are.
What was the last song you listened to?
Salt In the Wound by boygenius who just released their first EP.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
The idea of listening to vinyl is definitely preferable to all of us, especially since it often requires you to listen to the whole record from beginning to end. In reality we mainly stream music though. The big vinyl collection and the sweet sweet sound system will come when the cash flow is a bit better.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
It depends on what music you’re looking to find. We all use Spotify a lot (being Swedish and all…), but Soundcloud and Mixcloud are better for finding electronic music in general. A lot of new bands post their music on Soundcloud or Bandcamp as well, so it’s always fun to have a look around.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?
The step from having people liking and following you on social media, to actually get them to move on to the music is tricky. It’s like the two worlds are separate, and it’s quite difficult to move focus from the social media image to the actual listening of your music.
Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?
We’re currently back in Sweden for a couple of shows, and will go back to London after that. We play shows every now and then but are currently putting more energy into projects and collaborations with other artists and art forms. We don’t usually live stream, so the best way to catch us live is to go to a London show. It’s fairly easy to find where and when the next shows take place if you follow us on Facebook or join our email list.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?
Our music is out on all digital platforms, so pick your favourite and listen there! If you’re looking for more frequent updates and videos of us joking around Facebook and Instagram are the places for you.
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
Shout out to Mama Cass Elliot and the brilliant ‘Make Your Own Kind Of Music’. Constant inspiration.
