A million years ago cloaked in the ambition of former lives we accidentally caught a Jupe Jupe live performance down in Austin during South-By-Southest. The memory, hazy by design and fuzzy by alcohol, stands out in a sea of bands that week of that particular year (2012?), simply because our assumption of their home base was off by, oh, roughly 4,600 miles.
We thought Manchester, they confirmed Seattle.
It’s easy to get that mixed up. The new wave quartet are kindred spirits of that beloved Manchester sound, and settle into another classic alternative groove on their latest single “Faith In What You Hear.” The track, which you can hear below, is off Jupe Jupe’s latest album, Lonely Creatures, which serves as another impeccable mix of gloomy sounds and indie dance floor empowerment.
Jupe Jupe are at their best when they are showing an impassioned restraint, and that’s evident here as “Faith in What You Hear” glides along a path of seductive synths and slashing guitarwork. The warmth is familiar, but the sound is entirely their own.
“’Faith in What You Hear’ is about the possible unseen danger of blind trust,” the band tells Pure Grain Audio. “Sometimes the words we think we want to hear can turn out to be as hurtful as what we tried to avoid. Musically we wanted to lay this melancholy on a pulsing dance feel, going for an electropop/post-punk sound. We’ve always enjoyed music and vocals that are a bit mismatched in that way.”
Listen to “Faith in What You Hear” below, and hold out hope that eventually Jupe Jupe will meet us halfway between Seattle and Manchester for that long-awaited Boston gig.
Featured Jupe Jupe photo by Lord FoTog, via Facebook.