The Milwaukee Americana ensemble Juniper Tar recordedits 2008 full-length debut, To the Trees,in one of those northern cabins, and while the retreat was as reinvigorating asexpected, the logistics of recording were surprisingly restrictive.
“We still look at that first album as a demo,” admitssinger-guitarist Jason Mohr. “We didn’t have the means or production to capturea really detailed sound, so we just played it live.”
So for their follow-up EP, which the group releasesthis week, Juniper Tar headed to one of the least sexy, least novel places torecord an album: the studio. The group booked time with producer ShaneHochstetler at Howl Street Recordings, a little hub in a not particularlyscenic part of Bay View that’s walking distance from a gas station and one ofthe city’s better Mexican restaurants. Though Howl Street didn’t offer much in the wayof majestic old-growth surroundings, it afforded far better recording amenitiesthan most cabins ever could.
“It’s just this great-sounding room,” Mohr says.“Plus it had this upright piano we could use, which was a huge plus.”
The group was so inspired by the studio that theychristened their final product after it: TheHowl StreetEP.
The EP’s four songs are of a piece, sharing themes ofnew beginnings and renewals. “They were written over a couple years in my lifewhen a lot was changingdivorce, a new relationship, an engagement,” Mohr says.
With its unhurried songs and uplifting three-partharmonies, Howl Street strikes a similar tone tothe Avett Brothers’ softer works, particularly on the EP’s piano-led opener“Innerstates.” Juniper Tar is more subtle about its interpolation of old-timeAmerican music, though, and, especially in their louder moments, the two bandsstrike wildly divergent paths. Where the Avett Brothers’ songs threaten tobreak into a hootenanny, Juniper Tar’s hold their resolve, climaxing not inhoots and hollers but rather with urbane surges of three tightly woven guitars.It’s during these climaxes that Juniper Tar’s Gram Parsons-styled songs exposetheir concurrent roots in indie-rock, recalling the bleary crescendos ofslowcore bands like Bedhead and Codeine.
Performing live, the group tips its hat to ’90sindie-rock even further.
“When we play live, I think we just feel pureemotion,” says guitarist Aaron Schleicher. “We don’t care if we look sillyjumping around and knocking stuff over. We’re not intentionally jumping aroundor bumping into each other. Once we’re in a loud club and we’re getting intoit, we feel it’s OK to turn up the guitars a little louder. When we record,though, we’re a little more conscious of how loudly we’re playing.”
Though it would seem like a chore composingarrangements for so many guitars without cluttering the songs, the band says itcomes naturally.
“Generally when a song gets real big or gets realquiet, it just happens on its own,” Schleicher says. “We just noodle arounduntil a song sounds like it should; it’s not something we have to pay attentionto. I think it also helps that to have three guitarists in the band meanshaving three songwriters in the band. Songwriters aren’t trying to show offtheir instruments; they’re always in the mind-set of what does and doesn’tbelong in the context of a song.”
JuniperTar plays a 9 p.m. EP release show at Club Garibaldi on Thursday, Feb. 18, withThe Vulgarians.
