Album Review: No Joy Show You The Cool of “Creep”
No Joy’s album Creep is a strange delight. Not many artists can make the spooky something you want to enter and feel bright in. Although their instrumentals tend for the heavier, mysterious arrangements, No Joy wishes to create psychological twist with their record. If your mom told you “Do not judge a book by its cover”, then No Joy is telling you not to judge a song by its sound. Again, a weird task to do, but once you hear Creep, you will understand.
Sonically, Creep has an aftertaste that is sweeter than its original tasting. At first sound, Creep sounds like a walk into Pan’s Labyrinth. Dark willow trees and slick slugs crawl towards you in the quick drumming and abstract guitar melodies made to sound like noise more than music. Yet, as you listen further to the album you begin to discover that amongst the fallen leaves/synths of this forest of seeming fear, are melodies that string through like hidden streams. Suddenly, the “noise” of your first listen grows clearer into an artful arrangement meant for you to mentally discover her rather than just “listen”. It is new to say I want you to do more than “listen” or “pay attention”. Yet, the road to growth involves more than acknowledgement; it involves exploration. I am obsessed with how this album, rhythmically, feels like one in which every listen is a layer. It redefines how you determine “fun” from an album’s beats by giving musical cake filled with bloody cherries for you to eat and count in amount of sweetness they offer. As you discover more cherries, you see that this is an album that truly delivers in more, including in lyricism.
With titles like, “Flourescent Dead”, “Hellhole”, and “Tearing Apart The Dark”, you might think you are reading the list of Top 3 horror films of 2017. Yet, lyrically, No Joy is actually about seeing yourself through the darkness of both yours and others’ inner demons. They have acquired wisdom that some leave earth without attaining; pain is not something you get over, but something you get through. I have always said that people are not brave because they have no fear. Instead, they are brave, because despite their fears, they stand in resilience. It seems that No Joy agrees, which is, ironic, as their name is NO JOY! For beats that sound like suffering wallowed, their harmonies come off like releases of pain, which gives their songs a cathartic sensibility. The voices of Jasamine White-Gluz and Laura Lloyd synchronize so well that they swim together and dance over their shoe- gaze melodies. The result is an album that feels like fall into a hypno-circle of mindful music, with subtle color splashes of 80’s electronica to inspire some body movement. For More Information On No Joy And To Buy Creep Click Here.
TOUR DATES
02/10 – Ottawa, ON – Pressed
02/11 – Toronto, ON – Baby G
02/21 – Boston, MA – Great Scott
02/22 – Providence, RI – Columbus Theater
02/23 – Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery
02/24 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
02/25 – Brooklyn, NY – Shea Stadium
03/16-03/17 – Austin, TX – SXSW
03/18 – Dallas, TX – Not So Fun Weekend
03/19 – San Antonio, TX – Burger Records Hangover Festival
03/20 – Hot Springs, AR – The Valley of the Vapors Festival
