Labels: Mexican Summer
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This is my favourite seven inch in a bit, and probably will remain that way until the Sleep Over 7″ appears on my doorstep. No Joy have two songs. The first one is called “No Summer”, which does seem appropriate this August, when it has rained mostly. This track is a mix of fast-slow shoegaze. Lo-fi shoegaze. Layers of soothing fuzz and hidden vocals, combining into a big thumping sound that drives onwards and upwards make the music feel a little like an uncomfortably humid afternoon, before the thunder breaks through and they race off into these sweet faster bits that cut the atmosphere quite precisely.
What I am mostly here for though is the flip, “No Joy”, which is a delightful hangover of a track. The vocals are a complete afterthought, dropped in there, zoned out, stoned out, whilst the crunchy post grunge riffage recalls an era of music that barely troubled anyones attention. If you had any dalliances with the stoned shoegazey emo rumblings of Pot Valiant, then this song is sure to find it’s way to your heart. There is nothing complicated here, this being about repetition and hypnosis. You’d probably not even notice the vocals unless you went mining for them. And wore a hat with a light on to fight your way through the fog. Joy.