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Junto is the seventh album by British electronic dance music duo Basement Jaxx, released on 25 August 2014. It is the duo's first full-length album since Zephyr in 2009, and was announced on 19 May 2014. The group went for a more lighter tone with this record, in departure from the darker feel of Zephyr.
"Power to the House" took two years to make. The track includes backing vocals from audiences at their December 2013 UK Tour. Most of the orchestral instruments were recorded in the beginning of 2014, at a recycled orchestra in Catuera, Paraguay. Basement Jaxx have stated tried also tried doing other types of the song, including a funk version and an EDM version.
"Never Say Never", the fourth track went to number one on the US dance club play chart. "Buffalo", the eighth song, initially began as a jungle track, with trap elements later added. In obtaining a vocalist, he contacted The Count & Sinden member Graeme Sinden two weeks before the album was finished. Sinden had emailed vocal parts by Mykki Blanco for him to use in the song. Basementt Jaxx claimed Blanco was also supposed to send more vocal stuff to them as well, but he never met the group and "disappeared into the desert."
"Sneakin' Toronto", the tenth track, came from a two-day session with DJ Sneak.
Track twelve, "Mermaid of Salinas" was one of the first songs done for the album. Work on it began circa 2012, when Andrea Terrano, a classical and flamenco guitarist, wrote the melody of the vocal refrain, which he presented to the duo in their old studio. He said that "What he played us was very much like a Latin coffee bar thing" and "decided to give it the Jaxx treatment." When coming up with lyrical themes, they thought of writing them based on a real story: According to Ratcliffe, they used this: "Andrea was in Ibiza on holiday. He had just broken up with someone, and he was feeling a bit blue. He was with Felix and a group of people. He disappeared for a while, and he came back an hour later with this smile on his face. Felix was like, "Where have you been? What have you been up to?" It turned out he had gone paddling in the sea and he got talking to a lady. They were chatting, and they went out further in the sea together. They ended up staying out there and, before they knew it, they were making love in the sea. They came out and said, "Goodbye". That was that! Salinas is a very well-known beach on the island of Ibiza. That's a true story!"
Junto ends with "Love Is At Your Side", a song Ratcliffe wrote for his daughter. He described it as "a song from a father to his daughter" and the vocal melody as "almost country", which singer Sam Brooks "suited it perfectly."
Junto is named after the song "Power to the People". Simon Ratcliffe said the album was titled Junto, because the duo "wanted a title to sum up the spirit of the album, and in English all the words we came up with seemed really kind of dull or insipid." Buxton said that the name "makes people think a bit further and togetherness is about putting yourself 'over there' and seeing how it could be from a different position." Initially, they planned to name the record make.believe, but it was changed a friend had told the group that Sony those same exact punctuated words, to sell electronics. They also planned to use other titles, including One and Unicorn.
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