Anyone out there remember Voxtrot’s majestic ‘The Start Of Something’ from 2005? Didn’t think so. I rank it up there with ‘Who’s Got The Crack?’ by Moldy Peaches as one of the best lo-fi songs of all time. It’s this fuzz-friendly aesthetic that so drew me to newcomers Joy Again a few months ago, when I got sent a batch of their demos.
One of those tracks is now set for release via Lucky Number on January 15 – you can listen to it following its radio premiere at the weekend (full disclosure, that happened on my Beats 1 show – do check that out on Sunday’s at 3pm GMT if you’re into the stuff you read about here on Under The Radar). Called ‘Looking Out For You’, I think it’s something approaching a jangle-pop masterpiece, with his’n’her vocals that should make anyone who fell for Kimya Dawson and Adam Green’s chemistry swoon.
One more thing about the band: they’re managed by none other than XL/Godmode Records man Shamir Bailey, who can now add a new vocation to his Twitter biog (“musician, comedian, singer, rapper, twerker, chef, writer, filmmaker, skinny fat ass,” is the current pitch).
In a press release, Shamir had this to say about Joy Again: “[They are] extremely aware of the world around them, dangerously smart and super mature without leaving behind that playfulness that a lot of people lose once they start to enter adult life.”
I’ll leave it at that, and simply add that he’s got great taste. Here’s the track: