The Juniper Band Time For Flowers by: Steve Scully Mon:18-Jun-07 Label: Suiteside Year: 2007 WB rating 23 out of 100

The main problem with The Juniper band’s sound, apart from the fact they have no real definitive sound of their own, is the painfully incongruous vocals. The opening of ‘Cold Bodies’ is a lovely blend of guitar and piano, the bowed guitar (a technique I don’t condone) helping to create a full, rich sound, but once the vocals kick in the song loses all its luster. Monotonous, and at times cringingly flat, Francensco Begnoni’s voice sits in that mid-range, nasal register that always makes for difficult listening. It’s worth braving the vocal part though, as the ending of the song is a very impressive little metal-esque, pseudo-crescendo concoction that would undoubtedly be a killer moment if reproduced live in distorted and feedback soaked glory.

‘To The Glow’ again draws your attention to the abhorrent vocals. It’s very tough to find an adequate comparison to how horrendous these vocal takes are, I can only think of a conceptual one: A 90’s punk singer, all nasal and whiney, mixed with an idolatrous treatment of Thom Yorke and the musical ear of a tone-deaf child – not far off Evermore’s Jon Hume, actually. The song again begins strongly, guitars screeching, the piano pounded, rhythm section gelling together; a definite classic rock sense to the way the band works, all pomp and production, very little actual ingenuity.

Although there’s a brush of synth here and there on this record, along with some questionable use of a vocoder (damn you, Kraftwerk for making this acceptable!) and even more questionable guitar-playing techniques (the aforementioned ‘bowing’ is reserved for Led Zeppelin and, perhaps, Sigur Ros), nothing can help bring these songs to life. Instead, there’s a sense of fatigue about Time for Flowers, and it’s the band’s lackluster sense of dynamics that is partly to blame.

Such dynamic ineptitude is on show in ‘Cult of the Skull’. A drudging power ballad hardly worthy of a recording, it never takes off, instead loping along with the energy of a lame bull penetrated by the Matador’s lance. They should be kicking about, showing some life in the album’s six minutes centerpiece, but The Juniper Band dawdle through the supposed crescendo, with only some poor synth adding any spice to the now tired mix. If anything, this track offers the greatest lost opportunity on Time for Flowers; where the band should have branched out, belting a memorable spine-tingler instead of this submissive effort.

The Juniper Band shows some real guts in ‘Bring You Flowers’, introducing the spoken-word formula used most effectively by the likes of Tom Waits, but here it’s a bit of a wank. The guitar and keyboards mingle in a little, repetitive piece, as Begnoni rests his vocal chords to let bassist Gianluca Lucchini take the reins. Unfortunately, you can’t really make out the lyrics; the voice is so low in the mix, that any poetic brilliance is lost.

So, can this record be redeemed? Unfortunately for The Juniper Band, the signs are not good. The equation looks like this: despite nice production and a relatively polished product, the vocals are horrible, the music and lyrics unimpressive and, therefore, Time for Flowers is, at best, mediocre and forgettable. There isn’t a song here that I want to hear again, and to be honest, I’m happy it’s over and done with.