You aren’t going to find the cheap tricks that are becoming far too common in American pop/rock in the new Jupiter in Velvet record Anthems 2 Love; instead, you’re going to find quality rhythm, rambunctious rhyme, and a whole lot of textured instrumentation to be dissected over and over again. From almost every angle, Anthems 2 Love’s songs are a delight for the hardcore music fan to break apart, and even if you’re not the biggest audiophile the world has ever seen, this EP is one you can count on for a good time if you like simple rock mixed with a handful of a really bright melodies.
The bassline in “If Not Peace… (Then it’s War),” and to a lesser extent in “Forever & a Day” and “The Greatest Gift,” is one of the best-mixed elements of the record, and I think that without its fine-tuned disposition here, Anthems 2 Love would have felt a little choppier than it needed to. There’s a lot to the minor details in a group of songs like this one, and thankfully Jupiter in Velvet goes out of his way to make sure that each of them receives a VIP treatment in the mix.
When I first got ahold of Anthems 2 Love, I knew I would be in for some rad guitar parts, but the sizzle on the strings in this record is way more than I was originally expecting to discover. The guitar has a bite all its own in “Stand Up” and “A Cooler Shade of Mad,” and though it doesn’t get as much of the love as the vocals do in “If Not Peace… (Then it’s War)” and “The Greatest Gift,” its impenetrable wall of harmonious noise is exactly what makes the verses in these two tracks pop with rich vitality.
There’s a really raw feel to all of the music here, but it was obvious to me right out of the box that there were pros handling the soundboard without the interference of amateur producers. Jupiter in Velvet doesn’t skimp when it comes to trimming up a disc to make it as perfect and fan-friendly as possible, and with Anthems 2 Love, he adjusts his standards to make room for a new generation of rockers that are aching for something just a little more rebellious and random than the establishment has been offering them in the last couple of years.
The consensus is in: Jupiter in Velvet takes a giant step forward in Anthems 2 Love, which is definitely his most ambitiously melodic record since The One in the Many, and despite a few surface level-eclecticisms that might seem off-putting to the absurdly radio-oriented listeners among us, I think that this EP hits all the right notes even when it’s willfully pushing against the grain of a commercialized mainstream sound. I’ve listened to a lot of really great music in 2019, but once again, it’s Jupiter in Velvet’s record that I’m left talking about at the year’s end (and for just reasons).
Keep up with what’s next With Jupiter In Velvet on their WEBSITE.
