Jupe Jupe announced their new album King of Sorrows will be released on February 27 via No-Count Records. With this album release; I got to speak to the members about their creative process and how it will resonate to their fans in different aspects.
King Of Sorrows Track List
01. Haunting
02. Kill Your Darlings
03. Down with the Setting Sun
04. A Game of Wait and See
05. Nothing Left to Come
06. Cane
07. Alive Inside of You
08. Casualty of Lo
Interviewer: For the new fans out there; can you give us insight about who you are as musicians and explain a little bit more about your specific sound you have?
My – “We’ve always been fans of the darker side of expression. We love how songs of particular eras use singable vocal lines, instrumental hooks, and cinematic textures inside a darker sonic palette. And we love incorporating cinematic arrangements and electronic textures while telling stories with our songs.”
Bryan – “I hope that people will hear us as songwriters. I think songwriting and songcraft are the things we admire most in music. Those things often transcend genre. You can find great examples of great craft in any genre. I think our sound pairs well with darkwave and post-punk. That tends to be how the song is presented.”
Interviewer: “Down With The Setting Sun” is your brand new single; can you go into more depth about this single and tell us why it was created? Maybe explain where the title of the single came from?
Bryan – “That song came from something that I think all of us deal with from time-to-time. The inability to escape yourself. Memories of past wrongs often appear at night, like an old western bandit at the edge of what was a comforting fire.”
My – “We began writing this song with a solid vision. We thought it would be interesting to mix gothic western tones with new romantic dramatics. The combination of Telecaster guitars, vibraslaps, analog string machines, and other synths created a unique musical foundation we could explore.”
Interviewer: If someone pressed play on your new single for the first time tonight, what do you hope they feel in the first 30 seconds?
Bryan – “I’m going to say something I really believe and I hope that after I send this you’ll forgive me for sounding like an emotion science nerd but I hope they feel that they can sink into their own darkness without getting lost. Like the joyful exuberance of watching a horror movie and knowing that after all the fear for the characters, the actors are okay. We are both those characters and those actors and that should give us the permission and pleasure to feel sorrow, without succumbing to its weight.”
Interviewer: With this new album release; are there specific themes throughout the album that fans can relate to?
My: “Most of the themes of the record center around the challenge to remain level-headed during difficult times. Trusting yourself, dealing with egoism, not surrendering to the safety-net of nostalgia, and other motifs we deal with everyday.”
Interviewer: Out of all the tracks; which ones had the biggest impact on the band? and why?
Bryan – “I won’t speak for the others but for me, Casualty of Love is a really impactful song. It came pretty quickly, but not in a hurried way, it just presented itself. Usually when that happens there is also some type of development of technique. I’m not sure what it is yet, but Casualty of Love was the last song written. I think it is both a summation of King of Sorrows and the start of whatever will come next.”
My – “For me, the first song we wrote, Cane, really impacted the direction of King of Sorrows. We had discussed leaning a little more into post-punk and darkwave and Cane was the first crack at this. We don’t consider ourselves as purists in any genre, but it was liberating and exciting to focus on darker instrumentation and subject matter. It established a great path to go further with the rest of the songs.”
Jarrod – “Personally, Nothing Left to Come has the biggest impact on me. I feel it explores a tempo, rhythmic cadence and vocal delivery that colors just a bit outside the lines as a band.”
Interviewer: Does the band have any influences that helped create this album?
Bryan – “Oh tons of influences and not just music. A lot of influences on this record come from films and books, in particular, westerns. Always Sergio Leone/Ennio Morricone, but also for King of Sorrows, Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurtry, S. Craig Zahler, these artists really activated a lot of space. There are so many characters, both real and imagined, that reflect both a time gone by, and sadly, in some ways what seems to be part of present and maybe more so, future.”
My – “Absolutely. We were listening to a lot of new and old darkwave/post-punk bands throughout the process of the record. Boy Harsher, Bragolin, Echo and the Bunnymen, Bauhaus, Tones and Tail, Sisters of Mercy, She Past Away and of course our usual go-tos Bowie, Roxy Music, The Cure, Duran Duran and Psychedelic Furs.”
Jarrod – “I’m going to stray a bit from the other guys. Sure – certain musicians and genres always influence – but I don’t feel I can name specifics. Not to get too “out there” with this one, but I think collectively we’re in some interesting times right now and life in general played a pretty big influential part, at least from my perspective. Such a non-answer – but I’m sticking with it :)”
Interviewer: What kind of emotional response are you hoping listeners take away from your shows when you perform newer singles?
Bryan – “I think we have worked really hard on this album to be honest and concise in our lyrics. This has led to genuine moments of vulnerability in our set that I’m not always sure the audience was prepared for. Not in a bad or shocking way, but in an honest and sometimes surprising way. Sometimes after a show people will comment that they were not expecting emotionality to be so present in what is also a lively, light-hearted, and drunken performance. It can be a tender exchange of emotion between us and fans after a set. It can be a surprisingly pleasant thing to share in sorrow with an unexpecting music fan.”
My – “I love going to shows and being briefly transported into a different world. I hope we’re able to pull in audiences into our world the same way. And if they want to dance into it, even better.”
Jarrod – “It’s always great to look out at the crowd and see folks moving in response to the music. Full on dancing is the best!”