Joyer – Queen City Sounds and Art

Joyer has a gift for framing fond and emotionally complex memories in a way that is more touching and affectionate than nostalgic. The atmospheric and detailed guitar melodies put one in a reflective mood instantly and on “Glare of the Beer Can” the group offers vivid memories in a way that suggests creativity and insight in the realm of visual art to inform the music and vice versa. The song is about how so many things in your environment can remind you of the people that have made memories with you and how it could be haunting but it can also be something you don’t mind sitting with especially in moments of loneliness and isolation to warm the heart just enough to lift your spirits. It’s one of the more mellow songs on the group’s excellent new album, On the Other End of the Line… (out October 24, 2025 via Julia’s War Recordings) band one that showcases the group’s musical versatility and attention to the fine details of how feelings flow through the mind and what triggers memories and how it all interacts within one’s lived experiences. Watch the video for “Glare of the Beer Can” on YouTube and follow Joyer at the links provided.

Joyer on Twitter

Joyer on Facebook

Joyer on Instagram

Joyer on Bandcamp

Listening to Joyer’s “Fall Apart” it’s perhaps easy to imagine it’s like a Yo La Tengo song sped up but layered with a catastrophic noise partway through. The latter pairs well with the lyrics about an impulse to do things that make one fall apart. Why? Maybe the things that feel like everything is all together feels like you’re too bound up with limitations that come from social conditioning and conforming to a society where a certain kind of order is valued that can feel like oppression. Maybe the song is about mountain anxiety the release from which can only be indulging in what feels like you’re not clinging so tightly a way of being and living that don’t suit you. It’s a song that seems to acknowledge mental health struggles and a will to be free of them even that means yearning for acting in ways that are counter to what you’ve been told is well and good when part of you is aware that those words were not completely valid all along. Listen to “Fall Apart” on Spotify and follow Joyer at the links below. The group’s new album Night Songs drops April 26, 2024 via North Records/Julia’s War Records on digital and limited edition vinyl.