Junip

Junip is a labor of love between three childhood friends from Gothenburg, Sweden: singer/songwriter/guitarist Jose Gonzalez, drummer Elias Araya and keyboardist Tobias Winterkorn. With only strings and a Moog, their mutual love for hardcore music eventually turned into an interest in creating something more retro and rustic. Each member's varying influences, from Krautrock to soul, British folk, psychedelic rock and Afrobeat, make it into Junip's music, a mix that recalls the acoustic agility of John Martyn and Nick Drake and the downtempo delicacy of bands like Zero 7 and Stereolab. The band stuck together through Gonzalez's burgeoning solo career that hit its stride in 2003 with his debut album, Veneer. Years after forming in the late '90s, the trio released Black Refuge EP; a half decade or so later, a full-length debut, Fields, finally surfaced.