Jonquil is an Oxford, UK-based, indie pop band with their latest album Point of Go slated for release February 21^st via Dovecote Records.

Why did you choose Jonquil as the band’s name?

Jonquil is a type of flower, like a dainty daffodil, which sounds awfully pansy, but the band has been together for a while now and the music has changed from something a great deal more delicate and folksy. Although we sound very different now, I feel like the music still fits the name and despite the various transformations (members wise), Jonquil feels like the same band it always has been.

Point of Go is your third album, but in a way… it’s kind of your first since you’re now a four piece (instead of six). Do you feel like this is a debut album in a way?

Slimming to a four piece gave the band a new lease of life and put our hearts thoroughly back in it, the music changed a bit and the recording process for the album was very different; a proper “studio album,” whereas before we’d always been a bedroom/basement sort of deal. These things helped it feel like a debut and not some fourth record slog, but as I said, it does still feel like the same band.

What happened to the other half of the band? Did you part ways with smiles, rocks or something in-between?

Oh, all smiles, the three departed—Jody, Kit and Ben—left to focus on Trophy Wife. We love their music and we’re still brothers in arms so it’s win-win.

Do you find any underlining themes running throughout the album?

Not really. A lot of the tunes are love songs, I suppose, but all good pop is about love and that’s what we were trying to write.

Did you use any interesting instruments or techniques on this album?

It was all pretty straight up to be honest… guitars, bass keyboards/synths and drums. Towards the end of the process we had a bonkers, Venezuelan percussionist named Williams Cumberbache come in and groove a few tunes up which was great, he added a lot of feel and was a real character.

Why did you split the “Point of Go” track into two parts instead of two different songs?

Because they were written together to compliment one another, sort of as an extended intro, but the track would’ve been pretty proggy if we hadn’t split it in two.

You have a really, beautiful sound (as most people will say), but how would you describe it?

This is always the hardest question. How about upbeat, summery indie pop?

Just to note, our favorite jam on the album is “Run.” Do you, as a band, have one song you all particularly love and enjoy performing the most?

We all like “Getaway” a lot, I think it’s the track that sounds most removed from anything we’ve done before. It’s fast and krauty, and we all love to hear Robin shred solos out and this is the first time we managed to persuade him it was ok to do in a song!

If someone were to make a Jonquil documentary, what would it be named?

From Squats to Stadiums; 450 Unstoppable Hits.

Tell us your worst touring experience (or, funniest).

It’s a fond memory, but Kit, our old drummer, certainly had a bad tour because of it… We were near the start of a month long European tour, maybe three days in, playing in Berlin… and we all hit it pretty hard after the show. So hard that the result was Hugo stumbling into the venue’s accommodation last, with everyone else already asleep, finding himself in need of a hefty barf. Unfortunately, the only suitable container he could find was Kit’s open suitcase. The rest, along with a lot of Kit’s clothes, is history.

What is your FAULT?

We’re greedy bastards that always want bigger portions than each other.

Interview by Rachel Eleanor Sutton