For all its picking apart of rock’s history, there’s a peculiar newness to their music, and that’s a very rare thing when rock really is kind of dead.
Joy is an album to be combed through and prodded. It’s a testament to their shorthand with each other, which somehow ties all the fraying, crusty, silken, wiener dog, kitty cat threads so seamlessly together.
Going for a concept record akin to a very demented take on The Who’s Tommy, Joy has tons of over-arching energy to it that makes it a really consistent and engaging listen. With this in mind, it’s the eccentricities of both Segall and White Fence that will decide whether you find this album testing as a listener or one of your favourites of the year.
‘Joy’ is like a rickety wooden rollercoaster – there are a few nice inclines with some mildly disappointing drops between some pulsating flats, and you end up getting off slightly begrudgingly.
Joy is a little tongue-in-cheek at times, but fans of these two should expect nothing less than lo-fi garage at its most controlled and singular.
Like any Ty Segall or White Fence record, there is much to savour here, and plenty to pass on as well.
The new collaboration from the foremost disseminators of psych and garage rock is breezy and fun, but also slight and sadly filled with less exciting ideas than their previous joint project.
Sometimes the jam sesh lacks drive, but even if Joy isn’t the most essential record in either artist’s deep discography, it’s a gratifying testimony to capturing a moment when it feels right.
Overall ... Joy fails to replicate the shock of the new and for all its effulgent harmonies, a certain gnarly swagger has been lost.
Like a lot of the aggressively trippy ’60s folk Joy hearkens back to, the experimentation yields mixed results.
Ty and Tim pen some juicily different rock here and there, but it’s missing the vital ingredients that tend to make psychedelic rock memorable – it’s the psychedelic without the sizzle.
Though it’s sprinkled with promising ideas ... it spends most of its time in a fuzz haze of undercooked hooks and scattershot callbacks that never really lead to any actual cohesion.
Joy sounds more like a between-projects sort of toss-off rather than the solid record they could have made.
There isn't too much that these two can do wrong, but 'Joy' certainly doesn't reach the same heights as their 2012 effort, 'Hair.'
Ty Segall and Tim Presley opt for significantly shorter tracks throughout the duration of the fifteen-track album, with the only real outlier clocking in at just over 5 minutes. While their trademark sixties-inspired psych-rock nostalgia is still there, they do delve into other eras and genres of rock at times, which makes for a rich listening journey. Lead single ... read more
1 | Beginning 1:44 | |
2 | Please Don't Leave This Town 1:32 | |
3 | Room Connector 0:46 | |
4 | Body Behavior 2:16 | 95 |
5 | Good Boy 2:01 | 61 |
6 | Hey Joel, Where You Going With That? 2:54 | |
7 | Rock Flute 0:28 | |
8 | A Nod 2:19 | |
9 | Grin Without Smile 1:34 | |
10 | Other Way 1:41 | |
11 | Prettiest Dog 0:16 | |
12 | Do Your Hair 1:35 | |
13 | She Is Gold 5:06 | |
14 | Tommy's Place 1:52 | |
15 | My Friend 3:56 |
#50 | / | Far Out Magazine |