Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Juno Room recently released ‘Just Like Before’, a chill bedroom pop single with a unique atmosphere and sound. Combining Korean and English lyrics, super soft falsetto vocals and non-formulaic songwriting, ‘just like before’ is a wistful gem that is bound to linger with the listener.
Remarking on the release, Roome says:
“This is the first song that I had written in both Korean and English. I moved to the US when I was 10, so I don’t speak Korean very well at all; so when I wrote the first draft of this, I sent it to my mom for review and she said “this doesn’t make any sense,” I still don’t know if it makes a whole lot of sense haha. But this one is about missing a relationship that didn’t quite work very well, missing their shadows on your skin, thinking back on those memories / intimacy fondly, while at the same time with the awareness that it probably wasn’t for the best… loss is hard no matter what.”
The opening with Korean lyrics and breathy vocal style immediately captures your attention. The vocals are underscored by a bedroom-pop/shoegaze bed of hazy guitars, soft but tight drums and the surprise addition of soft trumpet melodies which immediately invoke a sense of nostalgia. This is in line with Juno’s previous releases, which are all adept at creating a special mood of delicate beauty and plaintive melancholy.
The track has a bold runtime of 4:26 in an era of ever shortening releases, however the song structure contains some interesting sections that keep you engaged, and the song is over before you know it. Even in the sections where one doesn’t understand the lyrics, the soothing music acts like a salve for the soul.
Stream ‘just like before’:
https://open.spotify.com/track/2JAHDn2zTqHFsFmktmZ4Mt
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Andy is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and sound engineer.