I remember seeing No Joy live back in 2021 during FME. Stumbling into the basement of a church, I heard a wash of dreamy shoegaze: fuzzy guitars, jangly vocals, and some freaky synth work. Self-proclaimed as nu-gaze, No Joy has always been the evolving and mysterious project fronted by Montreal’s Jasamine White-Gluz. While 2020’s Motherhood release leaned into a more electronic vibe, this new album Bugland leans back into the psychedelic wall of sound vibe I remember from back in the church basement, but with some new, freaky production courtesy of White-Gluz and American producer, Fire Toolz. I guess both of them created many of the tracks together while dirving back and forth between a rural cabin, refining the stems after each mountain drive.
“Garbage Dream House,” for example, brings an element of doom rock halfway with a shifting fuzzy slide guitar, but also has this mid-2000s alt-rock energy and then pops in a synthy outro. The title track begins with a dirty cyberpunk drum machine beat and then descends into hazy chaos, this time feeling like a Cocteau Twins deep cut. “Bits” is a mish-mash of synthwave, led by the sampled verses of White-Gluz’s whispy vocals, and heavy nu-gaze bar chords. “My Crud Princess” has an infectious energy with its mutating lead guitar work, probably the closest to a radio single No Joy track. Lastly, we will mention “Bather in the Bloodcells,” another heavy shoegaze guitar track, fused with a cornocopia of sample synth madness. Bugland isn’t a straightforward listen. It’s a strange release, but the right kind of strange based on your mood.
