No Joy

Splitting time between Montreal and Los Angeles, female-fronted noise pop group No Joy debuts with this two-song single. Not content to mine the depleted fields of shoegaze and twee indie sounds for inspiration, the group creates a maelstrom of melody out of both, with a layered, fuzzy approach that incorporates big, clean riffage, anonymous vocals hiding in the background, and a considerable churn across memorable four-minute pop songs. There’s a great deal more structure in their work than is found in many of their contemporaries, and their contemplative song structures work in favor to this approach. It’s the perennial box of chocolates filled with razor wire, but even the most fastidious of modern music archaeologists won’t see this one coming.