Those Looks is an indie rock four-piece from Lambertville, New Jersey, known for their shape-shifting blend of dream pop, retro rock, and alt-country. The band’s latest release—a cover of Up the Junction by Squeeze—arrives as part of Mint 400 Records Presents: 8 Track KnickKnacks (A Compilation of Songs Written In The 1970's), the newest tribute from Mint 400 Records. Following past compilations dedicated to the ’60s, ’80s, and ’90s—as well as artist-focused releases honoring Tom Petty, Nirvana, The Beach Boys, Lou Reed, Link Wray, and David Bowie—the label once again reframes familiar material through a modern lens. This time, the focus is the 1970s, treated not as a fixed nostalgia trip but as a flexible catalog still open to reinterpretation. Across 27 tracks, the collection resists straightforward revivalism, instead encouraging artists to reshape and recontextualize the source material.
For this cover, Those Looks lead guitarist Sylvia Barrantes takes center stage, singing the lead vocal. Elaborating on the song choice, Barrantes says, “The song sounds upbeat and light but the lyrics carry the weight of a man’s decline and eventual defeat by way of his vices and poor decisions. The imagery conveyed in short, rhythmic bursts of lyrics is pretty brilliant. He says so much with so few words and really makes you feel like you’re there watching this man fall in love, start a family, and then totally fall apart and lose it all. On a more personal note, the song reminds me a lot of how my parents met. And though they too did not have a happy ending, the song is a reminder of the power young love had over all of us at one time in our lives, and while it may not always end well, the excitement that bewitched us at the beginning is something to hold onto and reflect upon fondly. There is one phrase in the song that always catches in my throat because it’s just such a lovely sentiment: ‘She gave birth to a daughter / Within a year a walker / She looked just like her mother / If there could be another.’ Gets me every time.”
“You can feel Sylvia’s connection to the song in her voice. From the start, we knew she had to be the one to sing it. We added some harmonies that aren’t present in the original song, with my voice adding a layer that weaves in and out throughout the verses,” says singer and guitarist Kelly Bolding. “This song is unconventional in the sense that it has no real chorus, and the lyrics only get to the song title in the very last line. We had the whole band sing that eponymous final line together as a way to highlight it.”
The band recorded and mixed “Up the Junction” at a converted church where bassist Randall Newman lives, a space that’s gradually evolved into a fully functioning DIY studio over the past decade. In addition to bass, Newman contributed Hammond B-3 organ, Wurlitzer piano, and celesta, layering the track with a warm, lived-in texture that mirrors the song’s emotional arc—one that Those Looks handle with care, never overplaying its narrative, but letting it unfold with quiet clarity.
