Aidon Huck
This article was originally posted in separate parts, which will be noted in headings before the relevant section. This is less a cohesive work and more a set of written reactions to the music at the time of release. I am trying to preserve the original context and timing of the post, which was spread across many Instagram stories. I am also not currently in the mood to do a full reformatting of this, but I probably will at some point.
NEW JOYWAVE ALBUM AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I am working on a track by track review of the new Joywave album Permanent Pleasure, but that will take a while. In the meantime, here’s what you need to know.
I don’t intend to be hyperbolic here, but this may be their best album. At least of the last three, maybe four. I think it’s hard for me to say that it’s better than How Do You Feel Now?, but there is a strong case to be made here. It is so punchy, so catchy, so unbelievably well produced. It’s just so good.
Not a moment of this album is wasted, but in a way different than Cleanse that still gives it space to breathe and develop. In my first review of Brain Damage I said the album was looking like it would be Cleanse 2, and I was right, but in the best way possible. This is Cleanse 2 not in that it’s just more Cleanse, it’s Cleanse 2 in that it’s a refinement of everything Cleanse was doing. It’s Cleanse but good. Not that Cleanse was bad, it’s pretty good, but putting them side by side this is better by miles.
Going back to my Brain Damage review again, I said I wanted more guitars. Well I got them. This album is like they read what I wrote and gave me everything I wanted. That’s not what actually happened but it feels like it. Other than Brain Damage and He’s Back! this might be their most guitar heavy album. I love it.
Please please please listen to this album it’s so good.
Okay it’s been a little bit because I was very busy, but I want to talk about the Joywave album ‘Permanent Pleasure’ still. Booting up the blue stories. Here’s my track by track review.
Graffiti Planet
So, in my initial reaction post I said that this might be their best album, right? That might prove to be an overreaction with time, and I might calm down and reassess the album, but I do know one thing for sure. This is the best album opener Joywave has ever had. As the opening to an album, you can’t really do better than this. The only other track that comes close is ‘Content’ from ‘Content.’ The old sample going directly into an ominous drum loop with brooding synths and spooky vocal production. Musically this lingers until the track hits you with huge wall-of-sound guitar chords. This track is so expertly paced, and I don’t think any other song in their discography has built anticipation to the same effect as this one. Also, what is the thing playing the “melody” after the second chorus when everything breaks. Absolutely insane orchestration.
Lyrically this song is about how nothing we do in life is permanent, there will always be people before us that we replace, and there will always be people after that replace us. We help to shape the world, but we don’t have a say in how those that follow us shape the world. We can only do our best to control the present. That’s a scary thought. Closing on the line “somebody’s watching me from behind” is such an ominous way to end it.
This blew my mind on first listen and instantly I knew this album was going to be different.
If this is your favorite song on the album: Spooky pick but honestly I can really get behind that. There are so many alternate universes where this one is my favorite as well.
Scared
I’ve already said basically everything I need to about this song. It’s still great and it still hits hard lyrically. It also plays very well in context of the album. It still needs a guitar solo.
If this is your favorite song on the album: Great take. A part of me expected this to be my favorite before the album came out. It’s so good.
Brain Damage
I kind of talked about this already in the Scared review but this plays so much better on the album than it did as a single in my opinion. This song is really good. Everything good I said about it is still valid and everything negative I said about it kinda doesn’t matter anymore because the rest of the album filled all the holes that I complained about.
If this is your favorite song on the album: Solid pick. You would like Cleanse go listen to that album.
He’s Back!
Before the album came out I was looking at the names on the tracklist and I thought to myself “that one [He’s Back!] is going to be the annoying one.” I was right, but this song is much better than they usually are.
For context, Joywave albums always have at least one song that I consider to be ‘the annoying one,’ (you can ask me about that later) He’s Back! is pretty good though. It is certainly the least annoying ‘annoying song’ in the last three albums, so props to that. I think all of the ‘annoying songs’ are still quite good, they’re just the ones I only listen to on full album listens.
Also, I was really confident that I knew what this song was about but then I read an interview and he said a bunch of things that were not what I thought it was. I was so sure that this song was about Trump and how the republican party is positioning him as a christ figure so Fox News can act all persecuted and whatever but he doesn’t say anything about that in the interview, so I guess it’s not about that even with the “caps lock” bar. It’s allegedly “his first musical attempt at unpacking his religious upbringing and current relationship with Christianity.” The article was actually really interesting. I’ll link it somewhere you should read that to find out more.
If this is your favorite song on the album: Good for you, don’t let my ranting stop you. This song is very good. You would like Best Frenz go check that project out it’s Daniel Armbruster again and Jason Suwito from Sir Sly and they write in this vein more often.
Sleepytime Fantasy
This is one that I did hear prior to the release of the album because it was the B-side of the really cool Brain Damage single vinyl, which I bought of course. I didn’t do a review at the time because that felt like it would be spoilers, but now I can talk about it. Yay! This song is great. They do so well with mixing string textures into their normal sound. The incredibly tight drums and the lush pads are so pretty. It lures you in and then hits you with a terrifying sound that I can only liken to throwing a large brick into one of those big metal dumpsters. It comes out of nowhere. Don’t put this on your sleep playlist.
Also beep beep beep beep beep :)
If this is your favorite song on the album: Good choice. Sophisticated choice.
Swimming In The Glow
THIS SONG IS SUCH A BANGER AAAAAAAA. Song of the summer if anybody listened to Joywave. This is my song of the summer. I’m all ready. They don’t often go for such straightforward indie rock songs but when they do the cook. The last time they did this was, I don’t know, Cortez? The bonus track on the physical release of Koda Vista. I may just be blanking and I’ll feel dumb later. This song is great though. If you just want an incredibly catchy rock banger this one is for you. This song is for everybody.
If this is your favorite song on the album: This is one of the best songs Joywave has ever made. This is a great pick.
Hate To Be A Bother
This song is funny for multiple reasons. Reason one is that it kinda does a fakeout at the beginning. It starts like it’s going to be a sad Billie Eilish kinda song but then it becomes another indie rock banger.
The second reason is because Daniel Joywave swore lol. This is not particularily shocking as someone who watches all the behind the scenes content, but they usually don’t get that explicit on record. When I first heard the chorus to this song I actually laughed out loud because I wasn’t expecting it. This is a good fun song.
If this is your favorite song on the album: You are probably a fun person
787 Dreamliner
They’re getting spooky again. They are really bringing the ominous beats on this album. The only other time I think they’ve made a song similar is maybe ‘Content’ again. I like this one quite a bit. The chorus melody is one of the strongest on the album and the cymbal crashes just sound great. They feel gigantic and really satisfying. That’s a small detail but I like it.
If this is your favorite song on the album: Spooky. You probably like Halloween. Check out ‘Content’ the song and then also make sure you queue Shutdown right after it because they flow directly into each other and I don’t want you to miss out.
Splendor
I talked a lot about how Scared was the shortest song they’d ever released, but I am now wrong. This song is the new shortest Joywave song. (They have shorter tracks but those are interludes so they don’t count) However, the structure of this song makes it feel like it works, in my opinion. Rather than just having a verse-chorus-verse-chorus thing that goes by quickly I think the structure of ‘Splendor’ is more like verse-verse-bridge. There’s not really a chorus here, which is a bolder move from Joywave. It feels more like they were “composing” than “songwriting”. In some ways this feels like something I would write, not because I’m artsy or anything, just because I can’t write a chorus to save my life. Daniel Armbruster can but here chose not to, which makes this one of the most interesting songs they’ve released in a while.
This song makes me so sad but in an undefined way. A longing for a type of simplicity that feels out of reach, I suppose. I think “domestic” is a good word for it. Simply existing, living without cares or worries. The narrator of the song wants to break free of this domesticity, but there’s still something appealing about it. It’s conflicting. Such a pretty house, such a pretty garden, ya know.
If this is your favorite song on the album: Are you doing alright? Beautiful pick.
Here To Perform The Final Song From Their Album ‘Permanent Pleasure,’ Please Welcome… Joywave
Again formulating opinions based on the names of the tracklist, I was worried this would be just a little outro track like on ‘The Mall’ by Best Frenz. It’s a silly title, seems somewhat dismissive and corporate. I did not have my hopes up.
This is the best song Joywave has ever made.
Again, like my declarations at the start that “this may be their best album” I can’t really say that or know that I will still think that given time, but there’s something telling me I’m right. This song is beautiful. This song is gorgeous. This song is everything. I listened to the album for the first time while in my car driving back to campus. When this song played I almost cried. I did not know they could write a song like this. I did not know anyone could write a song like this. I feel like I was waiting my whole life for this song. That all sounds very dramatic, but wow this song is pretty.
That’s actually what the song is about. Lyrically. It’s about reaching a goal that you dreamed of and wanting to tell your past self about it. Wanting to let yourself know that you made it. “Hey kid, look up, can you believe?” That’s a beautiful sentiment. It’s aspirational. May we all can reach that moment in our own lives.
If this is your favorite song on the album: Glad we agree.
Thanks for reading my big long rant if you did that. I hope you listen to this album it’s so so so so so good and really short [33 min]. I can’t recommend it enough. I have friends who usually don’t vibe with my music recommendations that really like this album, so take from that what you will. If you do listen to it and like it check out the ‘Permanent Pleasure’ short film that they just put on their YouTube page it’s about a cat and it’s really vibey. Also look at the vinyl release of the album it’s so cool. You don’t have to buy it just look at the videos they posted.
That’s pretty much all I have to say. Thanks.