Junip at Union Transfer (Concert Review)

My first time at the Union Transfer, on a Sunday night a few flips of the calendar ago, was for a Junip concert in mid-June. That Sunday night in early summer started off great and only get better. One of the things that immediately struck me about how wonderful the Union Transfer (aka the former Spaghetti Warehouse) is was the music venue's amazing sound system. I noticed instantly the sound system was just as crisp and clear as that of the now-bygone Tin Angel's. Which says a lot, because the Tin Angel was a completely different kind of music venue. Tin Angel was not a rock venue; it was primarily set up as a listening room for acoustic singer-songwriters.

When the set of the opener, Philly indie folkster Birdie Busch, at the Union Transfer was finished, Birdie told us she was truly happy to be opening for Junip. She said she wasn't just saying that to be nice, like she sometimes does when opening for other bands. Birdie bantered with us quite a bit. She was hilarious in a weird kind of way. Hilarious and weird is my type of humor exactly, so I dug it.

Shortly thereafter Swedish folk rock band Junip enters the stage. They were the exact opposite of Philly fave Birdie Busch, in the sense that Birdie was chatty and personable, whereas the members of Junip entered the stage just as quietly and mysteriously as they left it. Junip took to the stage with very little fanfare and started playing their music immediately. It wasn't even until after the band's second song, "So Clear," that the audience got the chance to cheer for Junip. We did. Loudly.

Junip's next song was "Suddenly." As frontman José González sang, "If it's alright with you / Then it's alright with me," I thought to myself, Hell yes, Mr. González! It's more than alright with me!

By the end of the fifth song, some girl from the audience yelled out "Heartbeats!" She was promptly ignored by everyone. This wasn't José González's show. It was Junip's.

As a sidenote, "Heartbeats" is a song originally recorded by disbanded electronic duo the Knife; it was the first single off the Knife's second studio album Deep Cuts, which was released in 2003 on Swedish record label Rabid Records. "Heartbeats" has since been covered extensively by many acts, including in 2011 by English singing-songwriting sensation Ellie Goulding, whose soft acoustic cover is more akin to the stylings of Swedish-Argentinian singer-songwriter José González than it is to the driving synth-heavy original from the Knife. González's version, which features only an acoustic classical guitar, is heartbreakingly hard-hitting. González covered "Heartbeats" for his debut studio solo album Veneer (released on Swedish record label Imperial Recordings in 2003). González then later released this cover as Veneer's lead single in 2006. This heart-tugging track has cropped up in the backgrounds and soundtracks of TV shows and movies ever since.

So I can sort of understand the girl's mistake. José González is one-half of the Junip duo — the other half of Junip is Tobias Winterkorn on organ and Moog synthesizer (Junip also had a couple of touring musicians join them on stage at the Union Transfer, too) — yet "Heartbeats" is arguably the song for which José González is best known. (That, or "Step Out," a José González song featured on the movie soundtrack to The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty.)

It wasn't until later that night after returning home from Junip's show at the Union Transfer that I better understood the girl's mistake of calling out a José Gonzáles song at a Junip concert.

When I was talking to my insanely talented photographer Lauren McLean, while we were debriefing on our fantastic time at that night's live performance, something we often do, it finally dawned on me. I realized frontman José González never talked about, nor did he ever introduce, any of Junip's songs during the band's set. I didn't realize this while I was at the event. As any good live music show should be experienced, I was totally in the moment and was immersed in the music.

To be fair, there was one time José Gonzáles said something like, "This is a new song." The song was new in the sense it was on Junip's second album (the self-titled Junip released in 2013 on indie label Mute Records) and not from their first album (Fields, released in 2010, also on Mute). But there was never any backstory or explanation to any of the band's songs that night at the Union Transfer. Nothing was ever said like, "This one came to me while I was backpacking in Italy." Nor was there ever, "I wrote this song after my favorite aunt died and I went to visit her tombstone and a butterfly landed on my right shoulder, which was a sign from above, because my aunt loved butterflies and she always used to put her hand on that shoulder." Upon realizing that José Gonzáles and Tobias Winterkorn never opened up about the inception or creation of any of Junip's songs, I thought it was a bit odd.

But then I slept on it. The next morning I thought about Junip's show once again. I was reminded of advice my mom once gave me: "Sometimes it's not what you say that matters; it's what you don't say that matters." And since moms are always right, I realized this advice also holds true for Junip. What wasn't said at Junip's concert spoke volumes about the band. Good volumes.

I realized Junip is joint effort, which is why the band members never explained any of their songs. The vibe you get from listening to Junip is the same vibe you get from seeing Junip perform live: Junip's music is a collaboration. There's no, "Here's the star (re: José Gonzáles). And here's everybody else." Therefore, Junip's songs aren't based on any one person's experience. It's more like Junip is an expression of a collective experience.

And since this is what live music is all about, the collective experience, I can safely say no band was better suited to guide me into my first experience at Union Transfer other than Junip.