Photo Credit: Steven Cannoy
Today, North Carolina indie pop/rock band Janus 4-14 is releasing its song, “June Meets Tulip”, which is the first single off of the forthcoming EP Ghost From Your Past, due out on April 14th.
Janus 4-14 consists of Chad Barnard (songwriter, rhythm guitar, vocals), Shane Mauck (lead guitar, background vocals), and Brett Beardsley (drummer, background vocals). The band was never supposed to be a band. Songwriter Chad Barnard was so painfully shy that when he would perform his songs for friends, they would have to go into a room, close the door, and turn off the lights, while he would perform his songs with a breathy whisper of a voice. With some encouragement, he decided to get some friends together and perform one show, just to say that he did it. Fourteen years, an EP, and two albums later, Janus 4-14 are still at it.
Looking to expand their sound and wanting an old-school producer experience, Janus 4-14 sent producer John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., The Hold Steady, Horsegirl) their 50-song backlog, sought his advice on arrangement and song structure, and got him to pick his favorites, to be released in a series of six-song EPs.
The first offering from their collaboration is “June Meets Tulip”. The song follows a romance that starts off “protected by the glow” of new love with the wind composing “melodies just by whispering their name”, only to have the “day begin to fade” and the wind “babbling incoherently” having “forgotten their names.”
Branching out from what Jack Rabid has referred to as the “coffee and adderall” energy of the band’s last two albums, “June Meets Tulip” sees Janus 4-14 coming off as some kind of 90’s-tinged Elvis Costello fronting late-era Guided by Voices. The bright track, with its tambourine and Motown guitar chucks, will have you dancing around blissfully unaware of the tragic nature of the lyrics.
