Photo Cred: Jacob Boll
Indie trio Junaco return with their second full-length album In Motion, set for release on September 12. Written over the course of a week in a remote yurt on the Smith River in Northern California, the record reflects the constant shifts of parallel lives—homes, relationships, heartbreak, and growth.
With no internet access, limited daylight, and nightly plunges into the icy river, the band leaned into a stripped-back lifestyle that shaped the writing process. “Most of the songs felt like they came about really quickly,” they explain, describing how mornings began with a wood stove fire and evenings ended in the sauna or river. That sense of immersion fed directly into the album’s themes of movement, change, and resilience.
The recording process took place at Sonic Ranch in El Paso, Texas, with engineer Mario Ramirez. Staying close in the live room, the group played together until each track felt fully formed. The sessions were later expanded with string arrangements by Oliver Hill, mixes from Jake Aron (who also mixed their Without A Head EP), and mastering from Heba Kadry. The result is an album that balances intimacy with spacious production, carrying the atmosphere of both its raw beginnings and its polished finish.
The Highlight Track? “Time To Run”
The lead single Time To Run draws from a personal family story, rooted in the singer’s discovery of their mother’s escape from her home country. The track channels that revelation into a meditation on sacrifice, survival, and the complicated gratitude of realizing one’s safety is built on another’s hardship. It’s one of the record’s most direct songs, pairing emotional storytelling with Junaco’s characteristic warmth and flow.
With vinyl and tees on the way, and release shows planned for Los Angeles and New York (October 15 at Purgatory), Junaco are stepping into their next chapter. In Motion is the culmination of an environment, a process, and a period of change that’s fully alive in the music.
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