One of the most exciting acts around on a global scale right now is the New York City collective Juice. Comprised of seven members who all met in their freshman year of college, each one of them has a unique personality and diverse upbringings that helps them craft an outstanding soundscape that has something for everyone. They fuse together pop, R&B, punk rock and hip hop together in away that’s unprecedented whilst blending their own narratives into the lyrics as is demonstrated in their latest track Make Pretend.
“‘Make Pretend’ is an anxiety riddled daydream about the process of lost love,” The collective explain. “The narrative inside the character’s head swings quickly between sporadic confidence and optimism and an inability to deal with life outside of his bedroom. From the start, the song took on the energy of the early 2000s alternative rock of our childhoods. You know, like 1994 Green Day meets 2004 Green Day.”
The early 2000’s alt rock and pop punk sound is given new life in this track with is being reminiscent of Julian Casablancas brand of empathetic rock and even some of Blink 182’s flamboyant flair in the verses. The lyrics have a painful realness with, “I’ve been hiding under covers from my nightmares,” being something many people dealing with anxiety, self doubt or depression have experienced before and the impassioned vocal performance is just the cherry on top. Honestly I think this might be up there as one of my favourite releases this year, damn Juice are just something else.