Four piece alternative rock band ‘Just Suppose’ met within their first year of university, was formed in Huddersfield, United Kingdom and have been performing around the north of England ever since. Their EP was released last September titled “Breathing Space” and showcases how they make music that holds a melancholic feel to it combined with sad lyrics and more upbeat guitar riffs.
I am completely in love with the vibe of “Catching Sunlight” as it starts out with an extremely talented guitar riff, and into a raspy voice that will take your breath away. Using more technical pickings rather than straight chords on the guitar adds flare along with the blend of percussion and the ominous tones behind the driving and captivating melodies. The vocalist easily glides over the low and high notes with style and finesse with a tone that is relaxing and easy to listen to. The style of “Catching Sunlight” has a very modern day Beatles sound with some of the ‘organized chaos’, as I like to call the mixture of different sounds, that sends the mind drifting to many different sounds or David Bowie feel to it mixed with a touch of Bon Iver’s indie guitar style, with vocals that have remnants of a Young Paul McCartney that particularly shines through his higher notes. I thoroughly enjoy the style and finesse that this quartet has when creating a lovely array of tunes, emotions and enables the listener to imagine their own scenery in their mind with the assistance of descriptive lyrics such as “Sunlight through my hands I couldn’t catch”. Watch out for Just Suppose as they are an up-and-coming band that is going to hit the streets running with music that is as catchy and melodic as “Catching Sunlight” is.
Listen to "Catching Sunlight" here and get to know more about Just Suppose below!
Hey Just Suppose! Great to chat with you! Can you tell us a bit more about yourselves?
Thanks for talking to us. Well we are all from different parts of the UK; Lewis our drummer is from Wales, Ewan our singer and rhythm guitarist is from Scotland, Olli our bassist is from Warwick and Fraser our lead guitarist is from Hull so we are a bit of a mix. We all met at the university of Huddersfield where we are all studying music and we have been playing together for a year and a half. Juxtaposition is a key aspect within our music as we aim to combine upbeat instrumentals with melancholy lyrics. Our band name is even a play on the words juxtapose.
What aspect do you feel each members brings to the table when creating new music?
Usually we all sit in a practice room and someone brings an idea, usually Fraser and Ewan have an initial riff or chord progression in mind and we all add our own flair to it. Sometimes we accidentally stumble upon ideas while jamming together, for example the pre-chorus riff in ‘perfect flaws’. All together we all individually contribute. We all have very different influences; Lewis is mainly influenced by the heavier side of music, Ewan is influenced by a variety of music ranging from Coldplay to Pendulum, Fraser is more influenced by bands such as The Smiths, Biffy Clyro and Nirvana and Ollie is influenced by anything from classical music to Muse.
What is the meaning behind “Catching Sunlight” and what inspired you to write it?
Catching Sunlight is a difficult song to define: it’s about a lot of things. It’s about trying and failing to achieve your dreams, but with the hope that you’ll get there someday. It’s about starting fresh and trying to make things right. It’s also about how you have to stop trying to force things to go in the direction you want and letting nature take its course. It’s all pretty deep stuff, but at the end of the day what’s important is what the listener gets out of it. As for the inspiration, I (Ewan) just liked the sound of the line “sunlight through my hands” and took it from there really.
How do you find inspiration for new music, lyrics or instruments?
I know it sounds cliché, but a lot of our music comes about from how we are feeling. Our EP is built up from personal events and experiences each of us were going through at the time. This affects both our lyrics and our music as we try to create a counter balance between one and the other. Instrumentation wise we are fairly basic in a live setting we consist of; 2 guitars with one also as a vocalist, a bassist and a drummer. When we record we add more to this, filling out the sound with various synths and “engineered” instruments.
How does “Catching Sunlight” compare to your other releases and what do you feel sets it apart?
We believe that Catching Sunlight is more polished than our other songs, we spent more time with the recording process compared to Breathing Space. We also experimented with new ideas putting in different time signatures and more interesting chord progressions. The subject matter is slightly more hopeful than our other songs, which for us trust me is a rarity. Overall, we set out to try and craft a different soundscape, and we believe we achieved this.
What’s next for Just Suppose in 2019?
We expect to have new music out very soon so keep an eye out for that. We are also in the writing process at the moment for our first album but at the minute it’s just a concept. We’ve done a lot of gigs recently to expand further afield and we have a few coming up which we are excited about. So hopefully 2019 is a busy year for us.
Connect with Just Suppose on social media
www.instagram.com/justsupposeband
www.twitter.com/justsupposeband
www.facebook.com/justsupposeband