Memphis quartet Joybomb release their latest EP `Modern Scripture` this month, a release that highlights the band`s blend of power pop-sensibility, cerebral indie punk, alternative rock, and unabashed hi-fi rock’n’roll oblivion.
We are introduced to this six-track extended play via `Royal Fever` which is an upbeat and uplifting melodic celebration of life, possibly of youth. It shares a fairly sharp and reassuring reflection on the `joie de vivre` or zest for life along with some delightful complementing backing harmonies. Singer/guitaristGrant Beatty has referred to `Faith & Chemistry` as a “toxic romance overdosed on the highs and lows of symbiosis, placating through sobriety, and the pursuit for dopamine in various forms.” It`s another euphonious earworm where it seems opposites attract with that underlying feeling that the narrator really wants this potentially destructive relationship to work.
`Nanoplastique` races along and is an ironic number reflecting on a world consumed by microplastics, a critical view of environmental degradation which has more impact as it is shared in an enticing brainworm of a number rather than something that seems preachy or self-righteous. The hypocrisy of life and people in general appears to be at the heart of `Cult in Your Pocket` a track that has a rhythmic, foot tapping beat with lyrics that are distributed in a tone that seems to have an underlying sense of frustration. There`s a cracking guitar solo and a brief insightful musing towards the end of the piece.
`Sugar Drip` has a kind of repressed sexual tension about it as it gently leads us in before rushing off . A number that will have you nodding your head along to, at the very least. We close out with `Pristine Daydream` which is a slower burn of a number. A deeply contemplative piece on possibly life, love, and the pursuit of happiness and all the frustrations that entails. A track that was maybe designed to leave us all with something to reflect on.
`Modern Scripture` was/is my introduction to The Volunteer State`s finest and I have to say there was so much to enjoy. There are some delightfully melodic earworms shared on this twenty odd minutes. The lyrics had a kind of double edge, a yin and yang that seemed to touch on not only sin but salvation as well.
Joybomb are an outfit that will certainly be high on my radar as to what`s to come from this foursome, I suggest you have a listen and i`m sure they`ll be on yours as well.
Rating 8.5/10
