No Joy - Wait To Pleasure

Lead single ‘Lunar Phobia’ is glowing evidence of the progression that No Joy have made between their debut and ‘Wait To Pleasure’, the Montreal/LA trio’s second album. While famous fan Bethany Cosentino once tweeted “dude, No Joy is the best band ever, two hot blonde girls just shredding away, sooooo amazing,” Jasamine White-Gluz, Laura Lloyd and Garland Hastings don’t just shred away; they conjure diverse songs, which makes ‘Wait To Pleasure’ far from just a straightforward shoegaze album.

That said, it’d be hard to think otherwise after opener ‘E’, as jam-packed as it is with sweeping guitars and ethereal vocals, making its five minutes positively haunting. Yet walls of noise, while present here, are not predominant. ‘Hare Tarot Lies’ may boast layers upon layers of dark, possessive noise, but elsewhere tracks flicker to life with sultry electronics, like ‘Blue Neck Riviera’. These sparks fuse together to create a fluid set of coherent songs that have subtle twists, but always work as a collective.

Despite the overall strength of ‘Wait To Pleasure’, it’s ‘Lunar Phobia’ that’s a pure gold hit; it has a more radiant glow than the rest of the pack, an irresistible nature. It’s dreamy, its careless grooves like a cool breeze on a swelteringly hot day.

Contrary to the band’s name, there are a lot of joys to be found in ‘Wait To Pleasure’. No Joy have developed from an interesting band, to one to cherish.