PREMIERE | Joyer, "Cranky Boy"

The cinema for the ear sound of Joyer’s Nick and Shane Sullivan; press photo courtesy of the artists.

Homemade art created with heart connects with its audience in the most mysterious and mystic ways of relatability and resonance. From galleries featuring mixed media / multimedia steeped in the traditions of the American Primitive to your favorite rudimentary cassette cadences, these visceral qualities strike in ways that stick in the mind and soul of the beholder that elicit the back pages of memory, the sentimental sectors of thoughts and move us to feel things that our vocabulary can hardly define. Minimalist compositions musically, visually, conceptually and more offer an accessible entrance into the art work at hand that makes us feel seen, heard, recognized in a manner where we feel both simpatico with the artist and their creations (as if perhaps we have known them and they us our entire lives).

Aesthetes exemplary of these aforementioned arts are New Jersey’s own Nick & Shane Sullivan of Joyer, announcing their new album Perfect Gray for release via the Philly imprint Julia's War Recordings this coming September 24 that follows up 2020’s Sun Into Flies. A brotherly duo with an affinity for Criterion Collection tier films, Joyer deliver the debut of the visual single “Cranky Boy” that plays out like a home movie collection of reels spliced together that takes you to times and places like a multimedia scrap book collage of recollected moments and vibrant memories. The track operates with an inherent moodiness expressed in a languid delivery of subdued emotion with soft and subtle electric chords and warm keys that cherishes the heart and earnestness that lies beneath our most exasperated emotional exhibitions. We all at times are cranky. We all at times are sad. We all at times can act out in ways that are less than what we want to be and Joyer casts a shining light on the realness and wonderfulness of who we truly at our core: Humans with the capacity to love and sometimes, perhaps, love even too much.

"Cranky Boy" provides a viewing of a 16mm montage of intimate and reflective moments compiled by the Sullivan brothers. The down to earth crackle and fuzz of the film captures skyward perspectives, Sub-Zero versus Reptile in the mid-90s arcade smash Mortal Kombat 2, majestic road trip visuals of nature in all its magnificent glory, home recording sessions, stop-action monster toy showdowns and more. Joyer is seen bopping around the Garden State, attending a drive-in film event, capturing one another in their respective elements, showcasing parts of their VHS collection and lots of enjoying the breathtaking beauty of their lush green surroundings. Nick and Shane provide the perfect road movie short accompaniment for "Cranky Boy" where the endearment that exists beneath the veneer of general crabbiness can be felt in full in a feast for the senses that reminds us that it is okay to feel all of the feels in an audio/video statement of accepting the intrinsic messiness (and general consistent inconsistencies) of the self.

The joy of Joyer; press photos courtesy of Nick and Shane Sullivan.

Joyer’s Nick & Shane Sullivan provided some exclusive thoughts on both the new visual single “Cranky Boy” and their forthcoming album Perfect Gray:

“Cranky Boy” comes from the silly frustrations and conflicts that arise with people you’re close with for a long time that don’t usually mean anything and blow over almost immediately. Both of us studied film in school so our music has always been really inspired by movies we love. During the time that we were working on “Cranky Boy” we we’re both really sucked into simple slice of life movies, like Good Morning by Yasujiro Ozu and Where is My Friend’s House by Abbas Kirostami where the conflicts are really small and ultimately make you feel good after watching them. This also kind of plays into our music video which we tried to instill a home movie type feel and display the idea of a collection of moments collaged together.

Utility hallway reflections with Joyer’s Nick and Shane Sullivan; press photo courtesy of the artists.

This song is kind of a different approach for us lyrically and musically. Nick originally just had the riff that he was playing with for a while but as it turned into an actual song it ended up sounding a lot more playful and poppy than we’re used to, which ultimately introduces one of the many new ideas we experimented with when making Perfect Gray, an album in which we try to refine our existing sound while doing some things that are new to us. Experimenting is something that keeps us interested in songwriting. We like to push ourselves to try something different and adapt to our constantly changing tastes in music and art.

Joyer's new album Perfect Gray will be available September 24 via Julia’s War.

Album art for Joyer’s new album Perfect Gray.