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.”
Wrong Line
Jupiter One Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Turn back around but I put you on the ground again and again
Silenced but then you speak up
Only with a fist in your mouth, you never really heard it again
Tied up like a pinata
If you only saw her
Waiting for the Messiah
You were a liar
Taking on a six ton body slam
There was a time
When you were right
And I was on the wrong side of the train
And you were here, and i was blue
In Mississippi with a small town attitude
I was the one, who waited for a long time
In the wrong line, and for you
I'd do it all again
An innocent man walks in
Sat down
It was a fat crowd
A giggle and hat crowd again
Feet up laid back
He missed the attack
It was a quick smack
Got him in the head again
She said she was a model
Should have been a bottle
Can never tell they're dirty
Or they're clean
I dug a whole to China
All for a vagina
West on territory avenue
The lyrics to Jupiter One's "Wrong Line" tell a story of someone who repeatedly puts another person down and silences them, but the victim still believes in the perpetrator and would go through all of it again. The lyrics describe physical violence, disrespect, and mistreatment. The lines, "Smack down but then you get up, Turn back around but I put you on the ground again and again" signify the physical violence. The line, "Only with a fist in your mouth, you never really heard it again" depicts the perpetrator's silencing of the victim. They describe someone who is tied up like a pinata, waiting for a savior, and realizes too late that they were lied to. The chorus reflects on how the victim was once right, but now is stuck in the wrong line due to their loyalty to the person who mistreats them.
The last verse shifts attention to a different story, where a man is attacked and a woman's true intentions are uncovered. The line, "She said she was a model, Should have been a bottle Can never tell they're dirty or they're clean" implies that the woman was not truly a model and had some hidden motives, and that there's no way to tell someone's true nature just from appearances. The lyrics mirror the challenges of navigating relationships and how tricky human beings can be in deceiving others.
Line by Line Meaning
Smack down but then you get up
Despite being knocked down, you don't give up and keep going.
Turn back around but I put you on the ground again and again
Although you try to come back up, I bring you down repeatedly.
Silenced but then you speak up
You were quiet but now you're standing up for yourself.
Only with a fist in your mouth, you never really heard it again
You only spoke up once you were forced to be quiet and never let them silence you again.
Tied up like a pinata
You were trapped and vulnerable like a pinata.
If you only saw her
If you saw the situation clearly.
You'd never take a hit for the team oh oh
You wouldn't put yourself at risk for someone else's benefit.
Waiting for the Messiah
You were waiting for something/someone to save you.
You were a liar
You lied about something.
Taking on a six ton body slam
You took on something very difficult or challenging.
There was a time
There was a specific moment in the past.
When you were right
You had the correct opinion or view.
And I was on the wrong side of the train
I wasn't supportive of your correct view/opinion.
And you were here, and i was blue
You were present and I was feeling sad or depressed.
In Mississippi with a small town attitude
You were in a disadvantaged or limiting environment.
I was the one, who waited for a long time
You were waiting for a long time.
In the wrong line, and for you
You were waiting for something/someone in the wrong place but for someone else benefit.
I'd do it all again
You don't regret the experience and would do it all again.
An innocent man walks in
An innocent person enters the room.
Sat down
Took a seat.
It was a fat crowd
There were many people present.
A giggle and hat crowd again
The crowd was making fun of or mocking something.
Feet up laid back
Relaxed and comfortable.
He missed the attack
The person wasn't able to defend themselves from an attack.
It was a quick smack
The attack was fast and unexpected.
Got him in the head again
The person received an attack in the head again.
She said she was a model
A woman claimed to be a model.
Should have been a bottle
She should have been a drink bottle because she was useless and not truthful in her claims.
Can never tell they're dirty
It's impossible to tell if someone is good or bad just from their appearance or claims.
Or they're clean
It's also impossible to tell if someone is trustworthy or not based on appearance or claims.
I dug a whole to China
Someone put in a lot of effort to get something (the metaphorical hole) that wasn't worth it.
All for a vagina
The effort was made to satisfy a sexual desire.
West on territory avenue
The location is on Territory Avenue towards the West.
Contributed by Caleb O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@KohlDayvhis
This album NEEDS to be on Spotiffy!!!
@shabado0
Timeless album. I’ll take Kishi Bashi all day but JO are sorely missed
@Baguenaudeur
Cool to see praise for Jupiter One even now. One of my favourite bands ever.
@vro7537
I discovered Fire Away and has been repeat ever since and now as of typing this comment I am listening to this album for the very first time and I am loving it!
@RVFCalvo
Love this album
@Fraenstandem
10/10 album
@javilopez8853
Perfect!! !
@weldonisspeed1160
I miss jupiter one
@Marshall_Thompson
This is the first time I've ever heard the word "Vagina" used in a song.
Weird.
@ATruckCampbell
Right?