ARTISTS

Counting among their influences bands like Yo La Tengo, Broken Social Scene, and Blonde Readhead, Point Juncture, WA build their "ethereal dreampop" on layers of dub-like beats, melodic/dissonant guitars and droning keyboards with vocal performances from three of the band's members and accents from a rollicking vibraphone and the occasional trumpet blast.

PRESS
On numerous occasions I have been accused of being 'too indie' by my fellow peers and 'colleagues' and while I initially shrug it off I get to wondering if there really is such a phenomena. Am I wasting my time by searching below the critically-accepted indie Mendoza line? Should I listen to the latest Antony & The Johnsons album for the third time in hopes of 'getting it'...or should I pass and let Portland's Point Juncture, WA step up to the plate to pinch hit? To me, both artists, though sounding nothing alike, are equal in status in spring training. I chose the latter and I am happy to report, with no reservations, that Point Juncture, WA came through with a base knock when I had perhaps started to doubt myself. Let's forget the visually pleasant stenciled/sprayed artwork for a moment and cut right to the music. Some artists invest a whole lot of effort and energy into the opening track, opting for the 'bang' first. This may elicit temporary euphoria but more times than not the surge fizzles and you're left with a post-coital letdown. On Juxtapony the band exercises the opposite approach. 'Western Flyer' provides sufficient foreplay for what is to come on the album, a short jazzy prelude with twinkling vibraphone and sleepy trumpet. Yeah, the intro may sound like an orchestra warming up, fine-tuning their instruments for their upcoming performance but it segues nicely into the slow-sizzling 'Siesta Movement'. Amanda S.'s vocals should immediately recall Caithlin De Marrais (Rainer Maria) or Jenny from Rilo Kiley, affecting enough to wow but with just enough bent edges to transcend 'pretty'. Meanwhile the bass thumps and stringy guitar slithers along. And, woo, there's more of that wistful vibraphone as well. The band also display a knack for harmonizing near the end of the song. Well-rounded and very nice. The best track on the album, 'Transient Attack', follows and I'm not kidding when I say this is easily one of the best individual songs I have heard this year. Dirgey organ and vibraphone peek out from behind the stutter-stop drumbeat. One of the male vocalists in the band, Victor Paul Nash, takes the helm here but Amanda, who's also responsible for the above percussion, chimes in throughout. The song climaxes halfway through, with dreamy harmonized vocals and sorrowful guitar inducing goose-bumps and chills. This variety of ethereal dreampop brings personal favorites, Aarktica, to mind as well as the terribly underappreciated Broken Social Scene offshoot, Raising The Fawn. It also appears the band has a subtle sense of humor, quietly utilizing a Chuck Norris quote ('the best defense is not to offend') amidst a tale of an uneasy friendship. I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers that commercial. Excellent! While nothing else on the album is as otherworldly as the above-mentioned songs, there is also nothing that will offend (ho ho). The toned-down 'Comments In Jars' finds Amanda, more or less, cooing sweetly along to a drum machine. The band packs up the pretty and busts out some noise on the rugged, but playful 'Superer'. This could be a long-lost Rainer Maria or Jim Yoshii Pile-Up track (a good thing). The sparse piano-driven finale, 'Oh, Pioneers' winds things down appropriately, even if it's on a rather gloomy note. (BTW, are those chirping birds I hear? If so, why are they not credited!?) With Juxtapony Point Juncture, WA has proven, beyond a doubt, they have the chops to win a place on the starting roster and they know how to present themselves well (smashing artwork). It appears the band is planning on releasing a full-length later in the year. Here's to hoping more people become 'too indie' and pay a bit of attention to it when it arrives. I know I'll be in attendance. - Beat - Aug 2005

Mixing in a little prog, a little emo, this insanely creative, slightly dissonant mathy rock outfit has a way of drawing you deeper into their emotional landscape with each track. Point Juncture, WA has nailed that three-dimensional mastery where layers upon layers slip between another, breathe in and breathe out with the utmost elegance and meaning. Starting off with dub-inspired beats, bringing in tastefully economic guitar, reverberating vibraphone and poignant keyboards, then tilting the angle with their consistently mind-blowing vocals (both guy and girl), this gang is making Portland, Oregon most proud. All details aside, the overall impression is one of sincere, genuine music-making; these four guys and a girl put their hearts into every sound, every silence and every breath, reminding us that the magic of music happens in the subtleties and the vulnerabilities. - CD Baby - Aug 2005

It's nice and yet frustrating when a band takes things into their own hands and self-releases a professional sounding record. Nice because you can usually buy it cheaper and frustrating because you can only get it through the band. Until the internet. It's only because the band sells this EP on their website, that I decided to write this review. Otherwise it would be pointless. Point Juncture, WA may not be a town that you can ever visit (it doesn't exist), but it is a band that one should keep a look-out for on the show posters that line the telephone poles across this great nation. Point Juncture, WA's magic is found in their simple classification. They're not indie-pop, indie-slock, indie-rock, emo, indie-metal, indie-lite, indie-sludge or anything else. Point Juncture, WA is indie. That's all, just straight indie music. Independent and free from the normal music critics' cliches. They have that scary, indefinable quality that Pavement had when they first released a record. No one knows how describe the music other than it's good. It's damn good and you should get it, get it now before the music machine swallows Point Juncture, WA up and starts spitting out pale imitations and trying to sell those to you. One of Point Juncture, WA's strengths is behind the vocals of Amanda S., Jesse S. and Paul N. When Amanda sings alone on "The Siesta Movement", she brings a ferocity that is lacking from Jesse and Paul's other vocal performances throughout the rest of the record. Which is refreshing to hear a female vocalist have such a force in a predominately male band, without her being the "front-woman." The other strength is the revolution between instruments. Every member is multi-instrumental and the configuration of the band and what they play changes from song to song. Allowing for a great mixture of different styles to come through. This is a band to keep an eye on, if you haven't already been.
- Bryan Bingold - Aug 2005

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