Rock on

Long distance does work! No Joy is proof. With one member in Montreal and the other in L.A., No Joy was burdened by multiple time zones and virtually the entire diagonal distance of the US. The two traded tracks via email and MySpace until Mexican Summer got wind of their recordings on MySpace. Within a year, the band expanded to a quartet and recorded their debut album, Ghost Blonde.

These guys rock hard. The guitar and bass are fueled with more distortion than I would know what to do with, but they also have an airy feel as they are sometimes pumped with echo and always with reverb. As a result, there is almost a constant static that pervades the album, but it definitely does not subtract from the listening experience.

The name of the game is repetition to the point of getting lost in the repetition. It's incredibly easy to be engrossed in a track and then to doze off. It doesn't necessarily lose your attention though; in fact, it's quite the contrary. Their tracks are hypnotic and spacey. That might sound like a contradiction, but I swear it's indicative. This perception has a lot to do with the frontgirl's vocals; she mumbles and pushes out her voice while maintaining a whiny, but not nasal, tone. Her sustained notes travel uninhibited above all the instruments. Her lyrics are incomprehensible for the most part, but that's okay. These factors combined make for some beautiful harmonies, and the harmonies make a boundless pool for some aimless mental swimming.

All in all, this album is actually really good after a second or third listen. This group is excellent at forming the right chord arrangements as to not overload the harmonies among instruments. If you overload the harmonies with all that distortion and reverb, it's going to sound like garbage even if every note is in harmony with the others. They find a pretty great balance. Verdict: 4.3/8. Favorite tracks: Heedless (this song is freaking awesome), Maggie Says I Love You, Indigo Child, Untitled, and Ghost Blonde.

Best, Jonathan