JOY FOCUS - review added 9th March 2009
Album Review: Cyber Suburban Electro Rock Circus (2009)
For fans of: rock... and power pop flavoured music
Joy Focus is Holly Joy on vocals and Rikk Currence on... just about everything else. Ray Kainz adds a guitar solo to 'Audrey Is Gone', and Mike Sanfilip chips in with some rhythm guitar, but this is basically a two person operation.
Some would classify Joy Focus as a Christian pop-rock band, but they don't ram their beliefs down your throat at every given opportunity. There are spiritual references in the music, although they're only there if you go looking for them. A band like Deicide is much more blatant in forcing it's ideologies on the listener.
Their sound is at the lighter end of the Rock Realms musical spectrum; there's a sparing selection of downtuned guitars and Marshall stacks in the sound, but in reality this is pop music with vague nods to rock and teen-punk. Fortunately, the music is good enough to overcome its shortcomings in the heaviness stakes and earn a review simply by being bloody excellent.
First track 'Audrey Is Gone' is sensational. Imagine the best songs you get on soundtracks to teen-comedy movies like American Pie; this is up there with them. The chorus is so memorable it'll build a nest in your head and lay a clutch of eggs. On the basis of this song alone, it's genuinely scary that Joy Focus aren't huge already.
'Princess Samantha' is just as good. Another song you can envision belting out 'in theatres across the land', it perhaps takes a little time to get into it's stride, but still deserves a place in a movie like a gherkin deserves a place in a burger.
Slightly grungier in tune, 'Salvation' sounds decidedly average to start with but builds and builds into a smile-making monster. 'All That You Need' treads a parallel path. The build-up is subtle, the chorus all-consuming
The cover of The Eurythmics' 'Here Comes The Rain Again' is not as successful. The music is beautifully programmed and performed, but the song doesn't really suit Holly's voice. The result is nice enough, but not a patch on the original.
It's easy to imagine at least four or five tracks from Cyber Suburban Electro Rock Circus belting out on MTV or commercial radio. The music is catchy, fun, surprisingly rocking and deserving of all the praise it gets. Holly's voice is pleasant enough, but the real star is Rikk with his writing. Keep an eye on this man. He might just be massive.
Check out... 'Audrey Is Gone'. Awesome.
Track List:
