Interview: Getting to know JOY.
Multidisciplinary artist JOY. has recently dropped her new EP, Portal. We asked her to tell us about herself:
I am… sitting on my balcony in Sydney, having my morning caffeine hit and listening back to ideas I made last night with my headphones on full volume. It’s one of my favourite parts of my routine (full volume included) – I find it exciting to re-visit ideas and demos after a deep sleep. You never know what to expect, they always sound different in the daylight.
Portal is... a journey, a bit of sonic travel. I’ve found myself in the last few years having a particular interest in developing sounds, making voices sound like instruments and making guitars sound like synths. I’ve enjoyed experimenting with textures and really wanted this project to be focused around feeling different instruments hitting different parts of your brain/body. I always gravitate towards calming, (euphoric – as always described), sparkly sounds and parts, which have stayed a continuous theme throughout portal. Start to finish I had intended Portal to be somewhat of a road trip soundtrack – I’d spent a lot of time driving with friends back and forth throughout Australia throughout Covid and the landscape had really inspired me. The EP felt organic to me in the way it was created, but I did want to also try and expand the horizons a bit in my recording process. This project was like opening a new door for me.
Home is… where the music is. For me, as cliché as it may be, I do not feel at home unless I have an instrument or way of making music with me. It’s a grounding ritual in my daily life, I find it therapeutic. I am grateful to be able to also call it my job, but it plays just as much of an important role in my personal life. When I’m traveling, I like to spend a lot of time listening to ideas or creating playlists/soundtracks to my travel. I like to listen back and have music almost as a chronological timeline to life.
I spend too much time… overthinking. My brain tried to work too fast for my body. I appreciate the depth of processing it does, but often it can make me feel quite distant. I enjoy questioning things, I feel a constant urge to learn more about everything. I also spend too much time cooking food, but in a way I think that calms my mind, feels like I get to clock off. Sometimes even cleaning too. I guess because I lead a very creative life, I still search for the balance and structure/organization in my days.
I’ve never… had my driver’s license.
The last couple of years have been… very random, there have been extreme lows, and extreme high moments. It’s been a ride for sure, I’m not really sure how to explain further. chaotic.
It might surprise people to learn that… “omg” usage can be traced back to 1917. Also, Australia is wider than the moon.
…
Keep up to date with JOY. on Insta.
Interview by Bobby Townsend.
