The songs comprising Sunshower—produced by the band and noted engineer Chris Ribando (The Black Crowes, Priestbird, Mary J. Blige)—blend contemporary styles with a myriad of classic influences, from Dylan and The Beatles to Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac to The Police and Talking Heads. But you wouldn’t immediately hear them. The band has a knack for combining all of those influences into something utterly vital and wholly their own, as they’ve done on first single “Flaming Arrow,” a shimmering, ringing acoustic folk tune shot through with a bumping bassline and New Orleans inspired drum groove.
Sunshower dazzles on tracks like the dancefloor-friendly “Simple Stones,” filled with handclaps and soulful economic riffing that boasts a bass line for the ages while blending ‘80s Stones and MGMT. The epic opener “Volcano” melds The Beach Boys with The Flaming Lips, while delivering one of the disc’s best choruses. If Ishibashi conjures The Shins on “Find Me a Place,” he drops vintage, finger-picking folk on disc-closer “People in the Mountain.” As guitarist Zac Colwell puts it: “We can sound like Simon & Garfunkel, The Kooks, or even from a webisode of Yacht Rock.”
If they had their way, listeners would ingest each track on Sunshower as they would a new chapter in a never-boring book. Says singer/multi-instrumentalist K Ishibashi, “We approach every song like, ‘Will people be able to listen to this over and over again?’ ”
“Each song is like a little world,” adds Colwell. “We’re the same four guys playing the music on each track, but we just like to get way down in there and explore that little world.”
What K Ishibashi (lead vocals), Zac Colwell (lead guitar), Dave Heilman (drums) and Pat Dougherty (bass) have created as a result is a hook-heavy album tailor-made for our ADD times. And that mix-it-up mentality suits the band, as its songs are written by either Colwell or Ishibashi, each of whom have opposing approaches to lyric and melody.
“K leaves things a little more open for the listener,” says Colwell, who also plays keyboards and flute and adds backing vocals. “I consciously try to have a little narrative, and tell a story.” Counters Ishibashi, who plays guitar and violin in addition to singing lead on Sunshower: “His songs are pretty dark. I write bright, fun stuff, a lot of it stemming from one really big emotional experience. I’m more analytical, more left brain, he’s more right.”
“If there’s a theme to the album, it would definitely be bittersweetness,” Colwell continues.
“There’s definitely some humor, playfulness, but there’s also this twenty-something, we-have-to-temper-our-excitement sort of thing, especially being New Yorkers. Our elation is always checked, and some of the lyrics reflect that.” Bittersweet can be contradictory in terms, but in this case, these four unique personalities colorfully complement one another.
Although officially formed in 2003, the seeds for Jupiter One were planted in 2000 when Austin native Colwell and Ishibashi (raised in Virginia) met while working as touring musicians with a traveling circus, the Barnum Kaleidoscope. Bonding over their love for all music from soul to classical Indian, the duo began performing instrumental music in New York in the early 2000s, gradually working their way toward pop music incorporating vocals, and gigs at Pianos, Arlene’s Grocery and other reputable venues around Manhattan. “We noticed that once we started singing, girls started coming to shows,” laughs Colwell.
A former member of the popular STOMP performance collective, New Jersey-born drummer Heilman, caught an early incarnation of Jupiter One at a now-defunct bar in New York’s Lower East Side. “There was a unique, analog keyboard sound, something you don’t really hear anymore, especially then, in 2004,” he says, “and it just created this incredible sense of nostalgia. It made me feel like the band’s music was already history. It totally felt classic, and it made me sit up on the edge of my seat.” The current incarnation of the band coalesced with the addition of Delaware-raised bassist Pat Dougherty.
Taking its name from the spaceship in the ‘60s television show Lost in Space, Jupiter One made its recorded debut in 2005 with a self-titled EP, three songs from which made the transition—albeit in re-recorded form—to the group’s official self-titled debut album. The songs on Jupiter One scored the band a slew of high-level song-placements in TV and film projects (including the upcoming indie film Broken Windows, MLB Opening Day ‘09, NASCAR Talladega Race ’09 NBC’s Heroes Tribute, and the Sci-Fi channel’s Flash Gordon), as well as a number of video games (Madden NFL ’08, NHL ’08, etc.), and commercials (Payless‘09, Mazda ‘08).
Behind the new wave-inspired Jupiter One, the band members—having quit their day jobs—criss-crossed the States, building a fan base and surviving on Subway’s five-dollar footlong special, laughs Heilman. “We spent 14 months sluggin’ it out in the clubs,” he says. “We did not want to be some sort of boring web sensation. We wanted to meet our fans face to face.” And the work has paid off. “It’s definitely a show we’ve put time into, so it’s not just four guys playing a song, it’s supposed to be a spectacle,” says Colwell.
With producer/engineer Ribando at the controls, Sunshower embraces warmer, analog sounds and vintage recording techniques. “It’s the sound of the four of us playing together, rather than layering in the studio,” says Colwell. “Instead of piecemeal, it’s the way we actually sound live.”
Forgetting the sound for a minute, and thinking about the songs, Ishibashi adds: “We just want people to internalize them. We want Sunshower to be a journey.”
High Plains Drifter Finds The Oracle at Delphi
Jupiter One Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Was a sound I'd never heard before
I kissed your hand in the graveyard
I laid you down in the grass below, and said,
"Follow down the steps to come see where I'm going
No one knows but us"
The sun inside your iris
Was a sight I'd never seen before
But no one could find a place to dig
I'll show you down the steps to come see women talk through
Clouds of ethylene
Follow down the steps to come see where I'm going
No one knows but us
No one knows but us
The chants outside my window
Were from kids I'd never seen before
They washed their feet in the water
I watch them from my window
See my bed turn into burning branches
See my hazel eyes turn grey
No one knows but us
I've been finding things I've left before
I've been learning things I've learned before
I've been loving things I've loved before
I told my life to the priestess
She finished it from the other end
We dropped our tears on the tombstones
They shone like tiny passages
She said, "Follow down the steps to come see
Women talk through clouds of ethylene"
Follow down the steps to come see where I'm going
No one knows but us
This song by Jupiter One, titled "High Plains Drifter Finds The Oracle at Delphi," tells the story of the singer discovering new and uncharted territory both in terms of his surroundings and in terms of emotions. The song opens with the singer hearing the unfamiliar sound of rain outside, indicating that he may be in an unfamiliar place. The next line reveals that he is with someone, kissing their hand in a graveyard, but still laying them down on the grass below. He asks them to follow him down the steps to see where he's going, emphasizing the mystery and secretive nature of his journey.
The second verse reveals another aspect of the singer's journey, one that is more internal. He describes seeing the sun inside of the person he is with, something he's never witnessed before. He references a well that was brought from the ocean but could not be dug into, indicating a sense of futility or incompleteness. He again urges his companion to follow him down the steps, adding the line "no one knows but us," once again emphasizing the privacy and importance of this journey to him.
The final verse shows the singer observing a group of kids washing their feet in the water, indicating he may be in a different culture or time period. He sees his bed turning into burning branches and his hazel eyes turning grey, signaling a sense of transformation or change. He states that no one knows but us, indicating a deeper connection with his companion. The singer then seeks out a priestess, telling her his life story, and she finishes it from the other end. They drop tears on tombstones that shine like tiny passages, suggesting a sense of hope or enlightenment. The song ends with the singer urging his companion once again to follow him down the steps, emphasizing the ongoing nature of their journey.
Line by Line Meaning
The rain outside my window
The sound of rainfall that can be heard outside the singer's window.
Was a sound I'd never heard before
The sound of the rainfall was unique and new to the singer.
I kissed your hand in the graveyard
The singer kissed the hand of someone in a cemetery.
I laid you down in the grass below, and said,
The singer placed the person down on the ground and spoke to them.
"Follow down the steps to come see where I'm going
The singer invites the person to follow them.
No one knows but us"
The path the singer is taking is a secret between them and the other person.
The sun inside your iris
The sight of the sun within the eye of the person the singer is talking to.
Was a sight I'd never seen before
The appearance of the sun inside the person's eye was unique to the singer.
A well was brought from the ocean
A well was obtained from the ocean.
But no one could find a place to dig
No location was found to dig the well.
I'll show you down the steps to come see women talk through
The singer will guide the person to see women conversing through.
Clouds of ethylene
a type of gas or chemical compound that the women are conversing through.
The chants outside my window
Singing or chanting that could be heard from outside the singer's window.
Were from kids I'd never seen before
The singing or chanting was done by children that the singer had never met or seen.
They washed their feet in the water
The children washed their feet in some nearby water source.
I watch them from my window
The singer observed the children from their window.
See my bed turn into burning branches
The singer is envisioning their bed transforming into burning branches.
See my hazel eyes turn grey
The singer imagines their hazel eyes turning to a grey color.
No one knows but us
The details of the singer's thoughts and visions are only known to them and the person they are speaking with.
I've been finding things I've left before
The singer is discovering things that they had previously abandoned or forgotten.
I've been learning things I've learned before
The singer is rediscovering things that they had learned before.
I've been loving things I've loved before
The singer is experiencing a renewed love for things that they had loved previously.
I told my life to the priestess
The singer confided the details of their life to a priestess.
She finished it from the other end
The priestess provided insights or commentary on the singer's life from a different perspective.
We dropped our tears on the tombstones
Both the singer and priestess cried on the gravestones in the cemetery.
They shone like tiny passages
The tears left a glow or shine on the gravestones as if they were small engraved passages.
She said, "Follow down the steps to come see
The priestess instructed the singer to follow her to see something.
Women talk through clouds of ethylene"
The two are walking towards a group of women who are talking through a type of gas or chemical compound.
No one knows but us
The experience of walking towards the women and seeing them converse is kept confidential between the singer and priestess.
Follow down the steps to come see where I'm going
The singer invites the person to follow them once again.
No one knows but us
The destination of the singer's journey is known only to them and the person they are communicating with.
Contributed by Matthew C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.