by Andy Ciardella (@fkathiccs)
After listening to the new Washed Out album Purple Noon, I thought I had heard the dreamiest record this year, but it seems the latest album from No Joy has collected that title. Motherhood, the first full-length LP from the project in five years, is genre-mixing ear candy. Still here are the shoegaze influences, but they are sweetly complimented by everything from nu-metal to chamber pop.
Now appearing as a solo endeavor, Jasamine White-Gluz seems to expand the project's horizons. 2015’s More Faithful was, dare I say, a more faithful adherence to dream pop and post punk and doesn’t appear nearly as open-minded as Motherhood stylistically. As stated before, we’re presented with various experimentations of genre, dynamics, and structure. Take the track “Four” for example. The third single off the album, it’s a glorious trip hop fever dream. Through pitched vocal samples, baby laughs, and an epic nu-metal breakdown, we hear an artist who loves embracing sounds that are loud and luscious.
On “Ageless,” we have a track filtered through an 80s synth-pop lens, complete with punchy arpeggiating bass synth, slippery sounding guitars, and pounding drum machines. Those are just a few of the instruments buried in layers of sound. Every track here is filled to the brim with panoramic noise.
Another example of this is on the Kate Bush-esque track “Why Mothers Die.” This is mostly due to the dramatic pianos and high range vocals, but it’s still supremely No Joy. Keyboards are reflecting off the walls of an echoey cavern, drums are swimming in a sea of bouncy delay effects, and guitars are popping in and out with heavy reverberation.
In short, the sonics are definitely the highlight of the record. From satisfying crunch to blissful dreamscapes, the pleasantly washy melodies are what makes this record such a kaleidoscopic listen. It is refreshing to hear this direction and attitude from a project who could have come back sounding exactly as they were half a decade ago. Not to sound like No Joy were doing anything wrong back then, they weren’t, but it’s always fascinating to see projects grow and evolve. On Motherhood, No Joy is no exception.