Jonquil
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Jonquil

Oxford, England, United Kingdom | INDIE

Oxford, England, United Kingdom | INDIE
Band Alternative Pop

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"Lions Review"

Try Harder est un petit label anglais passionnant, qui est en train de s’imposer comme un incroyable défricheur de sonorités nouvelles. Il y a les Blood Red Shoes, dont on parlé un peu là, duo rock guitare batterie hyper efficace et bienvenu, et il y a surtout, surtout, Jonquil et son folk tribal et hanté. Soit six gamins d’Oxford, entre 18 et 24 ans, quelque part entre Akron Family et Animal Collective. Enfin l’écho anglais de ces quelques groupes américains qui révolutionnent le folk et élargissent ses perspectives depuis plusieurs années ?

Gigwise y voit à juste titre la musique de troubadours anglais perdus en 2016. Oui, difficile de mieux les caractériser, curieuse époque où les voyages dans le temps les plus improbables alimentent notre idée de la modernité. Pour vous donner un très bon aperçu, écoutez le morceau « Lions » sur leur page, berceuse folle, fière et entraînante qui me poursuit depuis plusieurs semaines et que je ne peux entendre qu’en boucle, trompant malgré moi les saintes statistiques des écoutes de morceaux sur myspace. Click.

Ils ont sorti leur premier album, à peine remarqué, Sunny Casino, l’année dernière toujours chez Try Harder. Si vous voulez un peu de lecture, lisez des critiques sur Drownedinsound et Boomkat. Leur prochain album, dont est issu le génial « Lions », portera le même nom d’animal et sortira cet automne, me rendant déjà impatient. Le prochain roi de la jungle ? Rouuaaaarouuuuuuaormm

- La Blogotheque (En Francais)


"Whistle Low EP review"

Jonquil son casi unos desconocidos en España, pese a que presentan ya un curriculum de dos discos y encendidos elogios entre el público inglés más inquieto. Si un grupo así tiene que sacar disco con un sello español, está claro que ése ha de ser Acuarela, que sigue con su buena costumbre de tomar a artistas extranjeros y pedirles eps exclusivos. Esa línea s casi un subsello dentro de la propia Acuarela y este Whistle Low cumple lo que se espera: una aproximación corta, pero intensa, a su modo de entender la música.

¿Por qué se han llevado elogios estos británicos? Pues porque se aproximan al folk desde una perspectiva extraña, algo que en los últimos años ha sido común en EEUU (todo la Weird America, con Joanna Newson al frente), pero no tanto en el Reino Unido, donde el revival post-punk ha ensombrecido otras propuestas. A bote pronte, sólo galeses como Euros Childs (Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci) o Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals) han querido mirar a sus tradiciones desde el espejo deformante del pop. Jonquil van también por ese camino, dejándose llevar además por ensoñaciones de ácido al estilo de Animal Collective, una referencia que aprece y desaparece a lo largo de todo el ep, pero ante la cual Jonquil sólo podrían palidecer, al menos de momento. - Hipersonica (En Espanol)


"Lions review (en Espanol)"

El primer acercamiento a una banda cuyo sonido atrapa, es muy parecido al coqueteo que en el mejor/peor de los casos llevará al enamoramiento. Escuchamos algunas frases (vemos algunos gestos), disfrutamos algunos sonidos (nos atrapan frases hechas y muletillas), descubrimos que no podemos estar sin el disco (deseamos enfermizamente la presencia de alguien). Ahora bien, no siempre de esto surgen buenas cosas. Llegas con una amiga y no dejas de hablarle de lo indescriptivamente genial que encuentras al sujeto (recomiendas a todo mundo escuchar el disco de tal banda), no te cansas de preguntarle a la gente si lo ha visto últimamente o ha sabido algo de él (¿ya escuchaste la canción que te mandé? No, ¿verdad?), haces que tus amigos lleguen al punto del hartazgo tras tus constantes referencias y aluciones al mismo objeto (pretty self-explanatory).

Jonquil

Y he aquí la verdadera mamada del asunto: no importa cuántas veces trates de explicar lo que te pasa al verlo aparecer, porque nadie, y digo nadie, va a sentirse medianamente familiarizado con lo que sientes. Yo amo a Jonquil. Qué es lo que se dice: que Hugo Manuel (el líder de la banda) apenas ronda los 20 años, que toca el acordeón mejor que Celso Piña, que su sesión en la Blogothèque ha sido una de las más hermosas de la historia, que en ocasiones las melodías de Jonquil rebasan estéticamente a las de Akron/Family, Beirut y Animal Collective juntos... Eso se dice. - Diez A Uno


"Lions LP Review"

Jonquil have already been tipped in the NME by fellow Oxfordians Foals in advance of their debut album's release. But such exposure can be a double-edged sword obviously gratefully received at such an early stage in their career, but sometimes a band can be dismissed as "That band that another bad quite liked". Luckily Jonquil prove to have enough thrills and spills in their arsenal to gather attention with or without such high profile patronage.

Their distinct sound is bolstered by accordions, brass and expansive vocal loops which wrap around their deftly defiant songs. And subtle production techniques embellish but never crowd out what is at the core a heartfelt and touching set.

The band have been gathering exposure slowly under their own steam, with radio sessions for Xfm's John Kennedy and Radio One's Huw Stephens under their belt.

Meanwhile a full UK tour looms, with an appearance at Latitude surely a highlight.

Lions is a fully realised offer, which belies Jonquil's collective young age, and, while it might not cause the same ripples as their high profile friends, it brims with the same enthusiasm and invention.

- Music Week


"Download of the day"


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DOWNLOAD: Jonquil - Fighting Smiles

Posted Sep 22, 2010 11:19 AM by Hillary Kaylor

Tags: folk, rock, pop

A prolific music editor once advised me to never compare one band to another. But how can I heed him when Jonquil’s self-described ‘Paul Simon does The Smiths’ tag is so right? “Fighting Smiles” is a primer for the Oxford six-piece’s nimble flutter-rock (available for purchase here and here), and if you’re not grinning by the end, you’re not alive. - RCRD LBL


"Lions LP Review"

Jonquil are royalty around these parts (these parts being Oxford) and when they have a gig in town, it’s a bit of a given that anyone who knows anything about anything is going to be there – that is, if that anything about anything happens to be anything about music. It’s a sticky-damp summer night and we’re happy to be indoors. After a torture-like delay, vocalist/ multi-instrumentalist Hugo Manuel leads with a velvety wordless melody cycle that grows in volume and harmony as more band members join in each round. The sound takes flight like the succulent scent of a home-cooked meal, permeating the air with a bouquet of comforting aromas. Incredibly consuming, this bouquet of sounds is almost impossible to digest in its elysian prowess. I later learn that the track is ‘Lily’ and the album is Lions. Performances like these are proof of just how triumphantly Jonquil prolifically design and deliver a sound that fluidly translates from the studio to the stage – an enchanting gift that does not appear often enough. The strength of their sweeping bohemianism floods the senses to consistently bestow a lush listening experience.

When most pop screams NOW! Jonquil screams ANYTHING BUT NOW! Unlike most popular rackets disguised as bands that, more often than not and sometimes indirectly, represent the modern liquidation of the metropolis, the sounds of Lions are muted and smooth around the edges, as if caught in-between a mystical dream dimension and a keepsake treasure chest, overflowing with images of road trips and teeming, green country sides. Jonquil vanguard the panoptic, experimental pop that paints with the diverse hues of an antique tapestry – one that is bright to the eye, soft to the touch and heaven on the ear.

It’s a reflective and reverent sound that is humbly but heavily rooted in folk traditions with its multi-instrumental layers and thick harmonies. Lions takes flight without any trace of throwaway trends – instead it pays tribute to a modest musical model that keeps fresh with crispy samples and dexterous electronic transitions. It sounds incredibly seamless but, then again, is freckled with this unique, handmade quality – and the track flow is beautifully natural.

It’s affectionately smeared with recollection, but it’s a warm distance that doesn’t thoughtlessly sew melodies together. From the playful bass line of ‘Sudden Sun’, to the fairy-tale-like taint of the exultant ‘Lions’, to the windswept ‘Magdalen Bridge’ (which includes a celestial contribution from Youthmovies’ Andrew Mears), Jonquil offer descants for the dreamers and endlessly optimistic as Lions provides a magic that has the power to transform any cynic.

9/10 - Drowned In Sound


"Live Review O2 Academy"

I want to believe that headline bands choose their support acts based on their musical talents rather than any pre-existing camaraderie or friendship. More often than not, it doesn’t happen that way. But this is not the case with tonight’s headliners, Foals. They have been and still are particularly involved in the thriving Oxford scene, as evidenced by their extremely vocal admiration of the now sadly defunct Youthmovies. This time, it’s Jonquil who are accompanying them on tour.

Even though this Oxford based sextet have been playing for ever so long, releasing two full albums alongside various EPs and additional collaborations, they’re not exactly household names. And this is quite unfair, as they’re far from a dull bunch. Jonquil are original in name and original in sound, a kind of rainbow-pop, a calypso tropicalia, but without bongos. It’s miles away from the twitchy, trotting style of their headlining buddies, yet their happy-go-lucky quirkiness does not fall far behind in terms of mood and execution.

Jonquil are multi-tasking musicians incorporating trumpet, keyboards, synths, drums, bass, two guitars and one hell of a naturally baritone-voiced singer. Hugo Manuel is the epicentre of it all, veering the ship through waters of Caribbean-infused themes such as ‘Get Up’, displays of lyrical bravado in ‘Magdalen Bridge’, dreamy explorations in ‘Parasol’, and spells of nostalgia in the pub chants of ‘Whistle Low’ and ‘Lions’.

Each one of Jonquil’s members has an earthy weight of their own, gluing and collecting all the aforementioned, disparate pieces together. They’re there for their fun and for your fun – let’s hope that this high profile support tour announces that fact to a few more people. - Rockfeedback


"Lions LP review"

Second album 'Lions' sees Jonquil evolve from mainman Hugo Manuel's bedroom-based recordings into a fully fledged touring outfit. Both subtle and mesmerising, the delicate musings take in a multitude of accompaniments - from flute to flugelhorn, accordian, organ and trumpet, and many more in between. Jonquil's efforts create an atmosphere in which one could slice through the air with a knife. 8/10 - Rocksound


"Lions LP Review"

Intricate, soothing, cyclic layers of otherworldliness seep forcefully into the eardrums on first listens to 'Lions'. On the second, third and fourth playbacks, the sound becomes one of timeless triumph - of anachronisms and aching yet strangely subliminal somersaults into a dream. The second LP from Oxford's Jonquil is light and dark, orchestral and minimal; everything you've ever wanted all at once. 'Sleepy Like Pudding' stands out as the most obvious example of just how the band strive towards filling every nanosecond with typically captivating, spine-tingling sensory fare - and succeed every time. There's everything from more romantic Mogwai ('Pencil Paper') to an even more organic Beirut ('Babe, So Now Why No?'). This is a masterclass in how to purvey experimentalism without foregoing accessibility, and for that alone Jonquil need to become huge - not to mention the fact that this is one of the most unique albums of 2008 so far. - Clash


Discography

Sunny Casinos - Try Harder 2006
Lions - Try Harder 2008
Whistle Low - Acuarela 2009
One Hundred Suns - Dovecote 2010

Photos

Bio

Jonquil are Hugo Manuel, Sam Hudson Scott and Robin McDiarmid, three men in their early twenties living in Oxford, England.

The band rehearse and record at home in their new east Oxford studio, having recently relocated from the House of Supreme Mathematics that they shared with Foals during the writing of Total Life Forever and Jonquil’s own One Hundred Suns. All tracks continue to be produced by Manuel who also records solo under the name Chad Valley.

Part of Oxford’s Blessing Force collective, Jonquil, alongside Pet Moon, Trophy Wife, Fixers, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Chad Valley, represent a groundswell of new creative output from the city that promises much over the coming year.

From their bedroom beginnings (early release Sunny Casinos being tagged a late night listening album of creeped-out dusty attic music) via their folk-pop adolescence (second album Lions seeing out the drones and seeing in the songs) the band now emerge as a fully realized pop proposition, their live show honed from heavy European touring.

November sees Jonquil’s first stateside release, with the One Hundred Suns coming out on New York’s Dovecote label (home to The Futureheads and Hooray For Earth).

"Jonquil's self-proclaimed "Paul Simon's take on The Smiths" tag nails them well, however the four-piece also encompasses a level of intricacy not unlike a more subtle Dirty Projectors without the R'n'B. There's also an inclusion of a majestic summer flourish of romantic indie-pop very much in the modern tradition - similar to Beach House, Vampire Weekend or Wolf Parade. Emerging initially as the more folky end of Oxford's burgeoning math rock scene that brought us (close friends of Jonquil and recent touring partners) Foals and Youthmovies, Jonquil have constantly evolved and morphed into a very accomplished and mature band with a now newly focused, fresh output of work.” Dan Monsell // Rockfeedback // 2010