Juniper Leaf

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Juniper Leaf are a modern psyche-folk four-piece from London. The band formed when Chikinki frontman, Rupert Browne, met drummer George Bradley at a party in Stoke Newington in 2007. The pair were soon joined by Chikinki’s Boris Exton and, then Vanessa Marlowe. The foursome blends together their love of German 70s guitar rock, folk and their love of bands like Incredible String Band and Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd to create something truly captivating and magical.

Broom, Briars, Torches From The Fire is the band’s debut album. During the writing of the album, Rupert discovered British folk music and started to frequent many of the traditional folk nights around the big city. Many of his main influences are some of the 1960s folk revivalists such as Anne Briggs, Martin Carthy and Bert Jansch. An ode to these 60s influences sees the band rework “Bushes and Briars” from the 1967 film version of Far From The Maddening Crowd. “King William’s Lady” also came from Martin Carthy.

The album was recorded at Toybox Studios with Ali Chant, who has recently worked with John Parish and PJ Harvey. Each track is a well-crafted, earthy tale transporting you to an era long past. The album title itself conjures-up images of fallen maidens, witches and peasants hypnotically dancing, chanting and frolicking around a crackling fire. However, tracks like “Automatic” and “Who Knows Where” immediately leap you forward to a trippier 60s / 70s guitar-influenced era that give the album more depth and prove Juniper Leaf are no one-trick pony.