Junatime on capturing the nostalgic sounds of the 1980s
Photo Credit: Jessica Calleiro
The nostalgia is real! Upon listening to Remember The Magic, the debut album from Long Beach based artist Junatime, we are transported to another era. A period in time in which the only way to hear a song on repeat was to hit rewind on the cassette player. Released in June on BIG EGO Records, the 80’s influenced synthpop album combines the sounds of vintage synthesizers, sax and guitar solos, and Junatime’s expressive vocals.
The album, co-written and produced by Chris Schlarb of Psychic Temple, contains a number of lyrical and musical references to the 1980s. The opening track, “Remember The Magic,” sets the tone for the rest of the album. The song invites us to reminisce about radio DJs, home videos, request lines, and other relics of “those better days.” The instrumentation on “1000 Hummingbirds,” channels Prince on “When Doves Cry,” guitar solo included. On “Feel Love,” Junatime’s vibrato is joined by muted guitars, warm synth pads and arpeggiated chords. “Take Time,” is an R&B duet with folk/indie pop singer Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon. The attention to detail on this album is remarkable.
While a lot of us were revisiting music from previous decades during the pandemic, Junatime was busy creating music that echoes those years. Soundvsystem corresponded with Junatime over email to chat about making the record.
Congrats on the new album! Remember the Magic has been out for close to two months. What has the response been like?
Junatime: Thank you! Honestly, the response has surprised me. While I believe in this album so much, I didn’t want to get my hopes up as I’ve seen amazing musicians release beautiful albums with very little traction. However, I keep seeing orders for the vinyl coming in from people all over, online listeners in every country, and I’ll get random messages from people I’ve never met that they love the album. It’s honestly the wildest thing to me.
The album was written and recorded over a two year period and it’s very collaborative. Can you talk a bit about the recording sessions?
Junatime: We started recording in January 2020, I will never forget that day. I remember being really amped up and nervous. as I was meeting Izzy Morfin (Izzy and The Fins), synth bass and saxophonist, for the first time, and we were going to track half of the songs with live drums from John Miranda. Once we got in the studio and Izzy started laying down the synth bass, I knew the record was going to be everything I ever wanted. We intended on tracking almost everything with a full band and having a much shorter process to completion. The week we went into lockdown I had my last full band session canceled. I think we took a month off to reassess, and then started meeting weekly with just Chris Schlarb (producer/co-writer) and I. So half of the songs were tracked live with keys, synth bass, and drums, and the other half were tracked with Chris and I messing with the programmed drums, and getting inspired by his growing number of synthesizers. We didn’t always know what the songs needed, but we knew when it was right. It was an incredibly intuitive process, and wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t had complete trust and respect for one another. Since it was quarantine, we only brought in musicians as needed, and one at a time, so the album had to be tracked separately. With that said, everything was played live, no quantizing or sequencing was done. So it still has the full band feel that we were going for!
On “Remember the Magic” you bring up having to wait patiently for your favorite tracks to be played on the radio. You questioned whether music “sounded better because we had to work harder for it.” Did that sentiment drive you while recording the album?
Junatime: Funny you mention this, yes! The theme of our whole process was “We never took the easy way out… never.” We also never settled, I had songs that were completely cut from the record, sessions that had to get chopped, we mixed the whole record 3 times… even if someone came in and did an incredible job, sometimes it just wasn’t what the song needed.
The album captures the 80’s sound beautifully. How did you and Chris Schlarb (Psychic Temple) approach the instrumentation?
Junatime: Chris totally nerded out. He saw my vision and took it to the level that I wouldn’t have been able to do on my own. He was constantly researching different processes and techniques in how to achieve certain sounds, hence the growing number of vintage synthesizers. This is where I got to learn. Sometimes he’d be all excited to share his process, and some of it would go over my head, but I picked up a lot of new things. We spent a lot of time on essentially sound designing, and sometimes I knew exactly what the song needed (bell synth here, pad there), but other times we just listened and felt, and too often we both would say yes at the same time to ‘the sound’ when we heard it.
Some of the musical references that you and Chris have mentioned are Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Janet Jackson. Are there any tracks in particular that you drew inspiration from?
Junatime: I don’t think there was any particular song from any one artist, it’s more that you’ll hear Kate Bush in my vocals, Janet Jackson for the production style, and Peter Gabriel’s “So” was the biggest inspiration for both of us to not lose sense of the concept we were going for – which was that - a huge record.
You’ve mentioned that, growing up, the closest record store was an hour away. What was it that got you to music in the first place?
Junatime: I don’t really know – just that you couldn’t stop me from singing, dancing, and anytime I saw a piano I wouldn’t leave it alone. My mom said I was 5 when she came home from work one day, and I said, “Look mom, I learned how to play this song,” and then played a song I heard by ear. It’s been such a big part of my life for my entire life, I can’t imagine life any other way. And in case you mean what physically got me to music – I would say I started getting really into the ‘80s when I was able to download songs from the internet using Napster, lol. Went from mixtapes to burning mixed CDs (illegally).
On the song “When UR Crazy,” the lyrics discuss a struggle with mental health, which the pandemic brought out in a lot of us. Why was it important for you to make a dance song about the issue?
Junatime: The struggle of mental health has been all too real for me, and it’s incredibly complex. The dancing is sort of like pushing through some of those stigmas, and it’s sort of an oxymoron. Like how you can be strong and weak at the same time, you can laugh and cry at the same time. The inspiration was when I have gnarly panic attacks it usually helps me if I move my body. It’s definitely had people looking at me funny, but that’s why I like to talk about this stuff. I think it’s healthy to talk about it.
If you could go back to those cassette tape days what would you tell Junatime?
Junatime: To save them!! Junatime… why on earth did you ever get rid of them!?
Now that music is so accessible, does thinking about the digital music landscape impact the way that you write songs?
Junatime: Writing songs – no. I couldn’t write differently if I wanted to haha. It only changes the way I release music, which actually isn’t a bad thing. Dropping singles is fun, and I will say, it’s probably to my advantage that I just happen to be a huge fan of a 3 minute pop song!
Photo Credit: Tom Tuong
The album cover art and music videos draw from the glamour shots, VHS tapes and other visuals associated with the '80s. Is that something that you thought about while you were making the album?
Junatime: Oh ya, we knew exactly what we were going to do the whole time. The outcome of that ended up being better than what we were imagining. We couldn’t be happier with the people we brought in to help bring the visuals to our vision to life!
You just wrapped up your west coast tour! What was your experience?
Junatime: When I thought about touring my honest thought was, “I can’t wait for the tour to be over.” I was terrified that the mental and physical toll (even a small tour) that can take on you, would break me. I was worried I would have some sort of mental breakdown or not be able to perform, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The tour changed my life completely. Not only did I handle it, I thrived and have never been happier in my life. It showed me that I am really born to do this, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
What’s next for Junatime?
Junatime: I’m going to keep touring, and I’m currently writing songs for my next record. I’m also working on a collab with Izzy and The Fins, which will be something really fresh for both of us. In the near future (September) you can look out for a new single that was recorded live on tour!
Photo Credit: Jessica Calleiro
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