JOYFULTALK, Frog Eyes, and Ellevator
JOYFULTALK
Familiar Science // Constellation Records
Opening slowly, swelling, blooming like a sun-kissed flower. Flutes float and flutter like bees searching for pollen. Suddenly, JOYFULTALK’s world explodes and envelopes you – waves of throbbing bass pulse as strings and horns scurry like cockroaches. What was once a blissed-out haze has become a guttural and daunting march. Electronic producer Jay Crocker, alongside a long line of A-list collaborators, opens with an unforgettable textural assault in his latest album Familiar Science and elevates it from there to a genre blending frenzy of jazz-laced electronica.
Unloading all of his electronic sensibilities while jazz fills the corners, Crocker arranges a dizzying blend of Ornette Coleman adjacent exploration while a rich array of electronic influences lays the foundation on which the jazz dances. There are so many textural elements that it had me vacillating between euphoria and overstimulation as JOYFULTALK pummeled me with energy and emotion.
In most instances, the electronic music lays a thick foundation and drives the energy forward as the rest of instruments scurry to find their place in the electronic arrangements. But in the few climactic moments, the jazz reaches such an improvisational frenzy that it sucks the electronics into its tornado and the line between squawks of horns and beeps of synthesizers becomes completely obscured. It’s as though the horns have achieved a brief moment of higher consciousness, they are no longer mere instruments but electronic entities themselves.
While there is plenty to enjoy here, I was especially struck by Crocker’s expertise and experience in curating electronic tones. The array of electronic influences and sensibilities that find their way into FS is daunting, and clearly the work of an aficionado. If Crocker had stopped there, he would have had a pretty damn fine album on his hands. But where the jazz is inserted is where this album gets its thematic and emotional heft. There are plenty who have played with these ideas before and lots of places he borrows sounds from: Tortoise, Squarepusher, Jaga Jazzist, BADBADNOTGOOD, the list goes on – but JOYFULTALK takes all of these and creates something all their own. It’s a concept that quickly becomes a really big mess in the wrong hands, but Crocker’s hands are more than capable of eking out an impressive effort from an unwieldy concept.
FS is thematically ambiguous, but I couldn’t help but make my own associations with the music. Where JOYFULTALK blended and transformed seemingly incompatible entities of jazz and electronics, I was drawn to comparisons of gender fluidity. What was once seen as a binary becomes enriched by motility between the binary – so too is true for the music of FS. Where the incompatible entities of jazz and electronics collide and transform, there is chaos and uncertainty, but ultimately, JOYFULTALK leaves us with hope and optimism as the music is elevated to euphoric levels. Crocker does little to influence our personal projections onto FS, leaving you to interpret however you choose. There is plenty of thematic meat to chew on in here – so take it as you will, but one thing is for sure: you won't soon forget the tornado of texture that is Familiar Science.
- Clay Geddert
Frog Eyes
The Bees // Paperbag Records
There are few albums that speak to me as much as this one does. And The Bees by Frog Eyes speaks volumes. It is the modern indie rock anthem we have all been searching for in these trying times. It is groovy, layered, poetically written, with traditional elements used in an avant garde fashion. The vocals stick out like a sore thumb in the best way possible, allowing you to grip onto every expert phrase and wise word like a hand in honey. And the instrumentals are equally as prevalent and given their own time to shine in all of this, with extended slow segments of beautiful, graceful strings. This EP finds the balance between the roughin’ it nature of indie music, with modern production quality, bringing it to a professional quality that makes it so easy to listen to.
This EP is perfect for a guy like me, who listens to music mostly when I’m on the go, or when I’m working, this is easy to zone off to with its soft melodies and calming vocals. But when you are sitting down and looking to appreciate art, this is perfect as well. In its lyrics alone you can get lost in the imagery and then find yourself mesmerised in the band’s lovingly orchestrated accompaniments. With distantly present electric ambiences, faintly potent guitar vignettes, gorgeous bass licks, and the simple yet everso effective drumming bringing it all together.
My favourite track on the album was “I was an Oligarch,” I’m just a sucker for a fast paced song with easily understood, catchy, goofy lyrics. And without telling you too much of the unique experience that is listening to this record, I will say that following this song with “He’s a Lonely Song” is a superb decision, and it is definitely one of the best songs on the album.
With funny, clever, and catchy lyrics, diverse instrumentals that stand on their own and assist the vocals at the same time, The Bees by Frog Eyes is like if Hawksley Workman and Modest Mouse -two of my personal favourite artists- had children together, and formed a band.
- Kaden Peaslee
Ellevator
The Words You Spoke Still Move Me // Arts & Crafts
Indie rock band Ellevator hailing from Hamilton, Ontario consists of currently Nabi Sue Bersche (vocals), Tyler Bersche (guitar) and Elliott Gwynne (bass, synths). Their new album The Words You Spoke Still Move Me was released on May 6, 2022. The album has 12 tracks with an approximate run time of 47 minutes of an elevating sound experience.
Nabi Sue’s warm and impressive vocals combined with powerful lyricism depicting turbulent emotional experiences that resonant with the listener and build tension that is cut by crisp riffs. The Words You Spoke Still Move Me takes you on their personal reflections on the ups and downs of life. Starting with the track “Claws” and moving through “Easy” onto “The City” a driving powerful tune builds and builds until it releases at the end. “Charlie O” slows you down with an emotional lucid dreaming piano piece. Picking it back up with the rock and roll “Sacred Heart”, with vocals reminiscent of Feist and an underlying beat and rhythms comparable to Don Henley’s “Boys of the Summer”. “Slip” is even more active with upbeat chimes and a driving rhythm. “The Prism” sports compelling lyrics: “my decision was final to the prism of time”, and features screaming strings that instead of being grating build power and mystery. There is a profound shift to the song “Mother” that is deeper, darker and lower sound. After the darkness, “Creatures” is a bright light breath with funky off beats about not “letting the world pass you by”.
Closing out the album the song “Party Trick” is moving theme that speaks to something we all need to learn how to do when dealing with two faced people; “that’s your party trick baby I’m done with it! Moving on!” Life, like this album moves up and down through various feelings and stages that are reflected like waves in the sonic landscape.
- Keeley Braunstein-Black
