Today, we’re excited to share “Blistered”, the newest single from slowcore duo Joyer.
Since last year’s excellent Peeled, brothers Nick & Shane Sullivan have kept busy with their organization of and involvement in a number of benefit compilations such as Baklava’s Bernie 2020 compilation, a Silver Jews cover comp in benefit of Shatterproof, an Alex G cover comp released by Z Tapes to aid disaster relief in the Bahamas, and An Abundance of Nothing, a compilation where each artist sponsored different organizations, with Joyer sponsoring RAICIES, but finally gear up for a return with a full-length LP in the upcoming Sun Into Flies, set for release on Z Tapes next month.
Joyer can claim to be one of the more unique acts in slowcore today, particularly lyrically, with their lens near perpetually focused towards the subject of ecological decay and its impacts both direct and indirect. Inspired by and framed through the lens of surreal horror, the band applies more outwardly bizarre and grotesque symbolic imagery to greed, climate change, and more broad failings of the human condition. While it would be incorrect to called Peeled impersonal, Sun Into Flies looks to channel the Sullivans’ own experiences to a greater degree as the greater erosion of the world has corrupted the more insular family and led to dysfunction.
As we’ve mentioned before, Joyer’s music has the tendency to fall together like a puzzle, where it can be difficult to ascertain the bigger picture until all the pieces slot in next to each other, but lead single “Blistered” still manages to be a compelling snippet of the big picture. There are only a couple of hushed lines amid the spacious, minimal composition that manage to swing back and forth between depictions of physical degradation (crusted elbows and blistered face, probable references to being “dried out” by the sun, literally or metaphorically) and psychological reflections (pondering why they act differently at night, again, perhaps in actually and/or the abstract). It may be akin to watching a single scene of a Kormine out-of-context: quiet, simple, confusing, unsettling, and yet oddly normal. Producer/engineer Bradford Krieger, who has worked with Horse Jumper, Ian Sweet, and Soft Fangs, lends his talents to “Blistered” and the whole of Sun Into Flies, a move that already appears to have paid off with “Blistered”‘s slow-burn dynamism, the clarity and range lending an enunciated largeness in sound to a band that may otherwise be described as introverted, with the punctuating cymbal crashes being particularly massive.
You can stream Joyer’s “Blistered” below:
Joyer’s “Blistered” is out now, and ‘Sun Into Flies’ is scheduled for release on digital and cassette via Z Tapes August 28th. All of the digital album proceeds will be donated to G.L.I.T.S, a NYC-based organization that provides community support and housing for Black trans folx. Be sure to follow Joyer on all of their social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bandcamp, and SoundCloud.
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