Spectreview: No Joy – Motherhood

Released: August 21, 2020

Alternative
Shoegaze
Electronic

-YELLOW-

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Sadie Dupuis’ bio of Jasamine White-Gluz (aka No Joy) mentions synthesis, “synthesis,” a process that easily encapsulates the Montreal artist’s first record in five years. Motherhood, co-written by White-Gluz and studio maestro Jorge Elbrecht, lifts the project from fleet-footed shoegaze to seemingly boundless, boundary-less terrain. This is genre exploration done right, with no easy demarcations but a vivid temporal focus on late-90s trends in music.

What could potentially have been a sonic mess is instead handled deftly by White-Gluz and Elbrecht. It comes in waves of intense pleasure, with its highest peaks evocative of a dream collab between The Breeders, Cocteau Twins and Metric with Nigel Godrich behind the boards. What’s most reassuringly is that, in exacting this new direction, White-Gluz sacrifices almost none of the qualities that made More Faithful such an invigorating trip into contemporary shoegaze. Much of this material is still heavily guitar-based, from opener “Birthmark,” which carries on exactly where Loveless’ “Soon” left off, to the nervy rapids of “Primal Curse” to the following high-octane “Dream Rats” that feels like More Faithful’s “Hollywood Teeth” slotted into a centrifuge.

Yet even though the records predominantly remains within the textural realm of shoegaze, a thrilling unpredictability runs like an electric current through Motherhood. Any given song will fluctuate between heavy rock, electronica, trance, and trip-hop, sometimes simultaneously, as in the case of dynamic mini-epic “Four” or thumping dance number “Nothing Will Hurt.” If shoegaze is meant to be felt rather than read, these new additions to White-Gluz’s palette add a stirring physicality to the act’s affecting smudginess. Though the record might be a little front-loaded, and though the overall effect is still one of tribute than invention, Motherhood is still a deeply enjoyable entry in No Joy’s tight discography.

Recommended for tank tops and sophisticated haircuts.