Jupiter One - Jupiter One

by Eddie Robson

One's more than enough

"‘Unglued’ is a jaunty tune which – and it pains us to write this – wouldn’t be out of place on a Hoosiers album, something which cannot be disguised by nicking the beginning of Madonna’s ‘Lucky Star’ and chucking it in the middle."

This reminds us uncomfortably of that time we reviewed the second Stellastarr* album (no, don’t look at the bottom of the page for a footnote, the asterisk is part of their stupid name). They sold themselves as a bohemian New York art-rock band too, and their album was a load of MOR toss.

Jupiter One are better than Stellastarr*. This does not exactly set the bar high. They are slightly dull, rocking the ’80s indie sound that has become so commonplace in recent years that you have to have your own take on it. It’s not enough to just beef up your indie sound with a synth, as on ‘Moon Won’t Turn’ and ‘Fire Away’: there was a time when that would have seemed quite original, but that was before The Killers came along. They’re willing to be a bit noisy and angsty (‘Countdown’), but they end up blustering away to no real purpose: it isn’t moving in any way.

Worse, ‘Unglued’ is a jaunty tune which – and it pains us to write this – wouldn’t be out of place on a Hoosiers album, something which cannot be disguised by nicking the beginning of Madonna’s ‘Lucky Star’ and chucking it in the middle. Can we be harsher? Not really, no. But anybody who is sane enough to hate U2 will be finished off by ‘Platform Moon’, because it sounds like U2 – big poncy reverb-heavy guitars. Elsewhere, the lack of subtlety in the production tells on the ear, with the late six-minute number ‘Umbrellas’ dragging horribly.

Jupiter One are actually at their best when they sound least like a guitar band, as on ‘Wrong Line’, which is like latterday Talking Heads crossed with slick Quincy Jones pop and not too bad. Similarly, ‘Way To The Floating Hospital/The Miracle of Flight’ sounds like a Flaming Lips song in both title and, er, sound. But this overlong album is fodder for American teen dramas, not for actually listening to.

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