Get ready to hear a lot more about Les Jupes. The Winnipeg quartet release their new EP, ‘Negative Space’, on September 30 and it’s set to land a few heavy blows with indie fans who like their songwriting epic.
Something of a forerunner to their second full-length, which is set to land in 2014, ‘Negative Space’ finds the band in a more personal space than on their debut, ‘Modern Myths’.
Frontman Michael PFalk possesses a rich baritone that understandably has drawn comparisons with Matt Berninger of the National, and here he’s on superb form. With just a hint of bite beneath the surface, his vocals provide a melancholy sheen to a sweeping set of songs.
“On the last record we made this really big, dense, grand painting of a record,” he said. “I think it's a really beautiful record but there's so much going on it's kind of at arm's length from the listener. I really wanted to make something that was a lot closer and more intimate. Really strip it down and make something that's a little warmer.”
The four tracks that make up the EP were plucked from a slate of over 30 and a real effort has been made to ensure that they’re on speaking terms with one another. The result is a snapshot of the band that feels rounded, rather than scattershot.
“We wanted four songs that worked together, so the EP is more like a mini album than four random songs,” Falk said. “It was pretty easy to sit down and say, 'which four?' They all come from a similar place and have a similar spirit to them.”
Having put together the EP with Imaginary Cities’ Rusty Matyas and engineer Cam Loeppky, the band will again team up with Marcus Paquin for their forthcoming record, the man behind the desk on ‘Modern Myths’. Tonally there will also be something of a shift as the record is set to embrace the different sides to the band’s sound in a manner the EP’s truncated running time doesn’t allow.
“We're doing that with the same producer who did our first record but again, we're trying to keep things leaner,” Falk said. “Where the EP is pretty hard on all four songs, the record has really quiet, gentle moments and a broad spectrum of production styles. I'm really excited for it.”
LesJupes are a notoriously hard working bunch and spend plenty of time in the van, where Kanye West, Tegan and Sara, Pavement and Portishead are currently on the stereo. They’ll land in the UK for a quartet of London shows in the first week of October, prior to another string of North American dates, and while their gospel is being spread abroad it’s only recently that they felt comfortable in their own musical habitat.
“For a long time I don't know if we fit very well into the city,” Falk said. “It's primarily a folk-roots and hard rock kind of town. But there's a new wave of weird pop and alternative stuff that's finding a home. There's Boats and there's Imaginary Cities, stuff that's a bit more musically adventurous. It definitely feels that we have more like-minded friends that we can do stuff with, which is great. Everyone's getting excited about these bands.”
Tue October 1st 2013 - LONDON Club Surya
Wed October 2nd 2013 - LONDON The Windmill
Thu October 3rd 2013 - LONDON Dublin Castle
Fri October 4th 2013 - LONDON The Finsbury
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