Just catching up with this album that came out in August from No Joy, the Canadian indie rock project helmed by Jasamine Gluz. She continues down a more experimental path that focuses tightly on songwriting, as things head in an electronic direction that reminds me of 90s dream pop by the time we get to the title track. There is a guitar woven in that holds even more heft at times than we have heard from her in the past, when this project has more of an organic, almost post-punk feel. Her voice sounds great and is used almost more like an instrument in how she layers it.
There is a denser atmosphere that absorbs "Bits" until she opens things open to create more room, but these are some great Cure-inspired guitar tones on this one. "Save the Lobsters" wanders in the ambiance a bit. She plays with sound rather than hooking you in here. If you told me "My Crud Princess" was Grimes, I would believe you. It is more upbeat, even if the vocals sit back in the music; it feels pretty effective to me. "Bather in the Blood Cell" dances around the mood created by her interesting sound, and has a cool selection of beats, but with little hook, yet it works for electronic music.
"I hate I forgot What You Look Like" is also carried away on the cloud of sound that uses the bpm to keep things moving in a manner that does not make it apparent that it's the motion in the ocean moving you more than a distinct melody. She continues to lead you down this opaque yet fanciful flight of sound on the last song, which owes even less to songwriting and more to her experimenting with weaving the web of sounds. Granted, over the course of this almost eight-minute exploration, thatre are dynamics, some of them heavier than expected. I will give this album a 9, overall the progression of what she is doing here finds the experimentation well balanced, though since she is dabbling in sounds from an era I enjoy I might be bias in this regard.
pst532
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