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Jul 20, 2018 Web Exclusive By Ben Jardine

Psych-rockers Ty Segall and White Fence (aka Tim Presley) make a groovy return with Joy, the follow-up to their 2012 collaboration, Hair. This is the second 2018 release for each artist, both of whom have released separate projects this year: Segall’s epic Freedom’s Goblin, which showed the singer’s multiple musical personalities come together in 19 songs; and the second release from DRINKS (Presley’s collaboration with Cate Le Bon), which saw Presley build on the quirky repetition of some of his earlier work.

Steeped in dry melodies, Joy is a departure from Hair‘s sweaty garage rock. The duo comes together in a perfect blend of their bizarre musical prolificacy-a mind-meld like no other. Although some of the songs are almost unlistenable (“Rock Flute,” though short and sweet, is one to stay away from), Joy is an artistic testament to two of garage rock’s lo-fi heavyweights.

Joy immediately reminds the listener of Presley’s trademark fondness for medleys (check out White Fence’s Is Growing Faith), with the first few songs coming in a slew of connected parts. “Please Don’t Leave This Town” flows directly into the downtempo “Room Connector,” which actually does connect the “rooms” of “Town” and “Body Behavior.” The album’s lead single, “Good Boy,” is a light-hearted garage romper with some obscure lyrics (“We see oceans, baby blue” is this track’s refrain). Even the album as a whole ends where the opening moments of “Beginning” take their cue.

For fans of these collaborator’s stranger sides, there is plenty to chew over on the album’s B-side: “Other Way” features the sounds of dogs barking, while “Tommy’s Place” is as peculiar as anything either musician has written before.

There are some real gems on Joy, but in classic Segall/Presley style, you just might have to look a little harder for them than on more go-ahead garage rock albums. But in so doing, the duo rewards patient listeners with straight classic psych-garage tracks like “Do Your Hair” and “My Friend.”

Joy is a little tongue-in-cheek at times, but fans of these two should expect nothing less than lo-fi garage at its most controlled and singular. (www.dragcity.com)

Author rating: 6.5/10