Joywave In LA
Show Review
Show Review
By Bailey Meyers & Lulu Moore
LOS ANGELES, Wednesday March 16:
As the sun set in Downtown LA, a crowd gathered to form a queue that stretched around the block. The air was tinged with restless excitement for Rochester alt-rock band Joywave. The trio––Daniel Armbruster on vocals, Paul Brenner on drums, and Joseph Morinelli on guitar––formally joined together in 2010 after playing in local bands with one another growing up. The group burst into commercial success with the electronic pop rock song, “Dangerous”. An anthem of the early 2010s, the single shot to number one on the Billboard Alternative Song chart in 2014. The deep-cutting synth riffs reflect the angst of a generation growing up in the age of the internet.
The crowd was a colorful mix of energized youth, a mishmash of millennials in flannels and beanies, and older music scene regulars in leather jackets. The Teragram Ballroom swallowed up the growing crowd, bathing them in a dark purple light from the stage. As the drinks poured and spectators smiled, flashes of their faces showed a genuine appreciation for the fleeting community.
At 8:00, the show opener, almost monday, greeted the stage. Their bouncy, beach rock guitars and offbeat drum beats are reminiscent of a laid-back afternoon on a San Diego beach. By the end of their set, including hits like “broken people”, “parking lot view”, and their newest, “cool enough”, people were bobbing their heads and bouncing along with lead singer Dawson Daugherty’s golden curls.
The air buzzed with excitement and became heavy with anticipation as the sold-out venue reached capacity. Joywave kicked things off with their new song, “Cyn City 2000”, the fourth track on their new album, Cleanse. The persistent pop beat joyfully brushes away life’s existential dread and the cynicism that accompanies it, embracing a glass-half-full attitude towards life.
Joywave continued the night with a set of songs from Cleanse; fitting for The Cleanse Tour. The indie-pop-leaning project was released on February 11th, 2022 under Cultco/Hollywood Records. Cleanse builds upon the legacy that Joywave built in the early twenty-teens, seemingly recycling alt-rock from the period. But the band imbues their new sound with additional glimpses of cutting-edge electronic and pop music. Cleanse is able to stand up as a project in its own right while giving Joywave fans the listening experience they love and deserve.
Cleanse taps into a nostalgic niche and adapts it to the cultural climate of 2022. “Every Mirror Is A Window” encompasses the universal struggle to grapple with the growing complexity of modern life. Personal experience is subjective. Nothing is impartial. So we need to actively lean into the discomfort of change: celebrating diversity, and recognizing life’s blessings, even if they’re bittersweet. The first guitar strum of “Buy American” cued the crowd in, and the punchy drums raised the temperature. The song itself is a sardonic ode to America, exposing underlying issues, but never leaving its angsty musical pocket.
During the pandemic, Joywave decided to create and release the Cleanse project despite an obligation to do so. “I have always been a ‘music is my therapy’ type of person and eventually I had tried everything else,” explains Daniel Armbruster in an interview with Consequence Sound. “No one asked me to make another record. It just happened.”
The audience raved for an encore. Joywave responded, saying “Oh gee, we don’t have anything planned… How about a quick trip through the Spotify top 5?... Perhaps the bop that went boop?” The song, “Tongues” immediately started, with its distinctive dance-like, boppy beat coming in full force. “Dangerous”, “Destruction” and “It’s a Trip” followed. By the time the synths faded, bodies pushed against the barriers to the stage, and elbows were sufficiently jostled. Joywave had done its job. Warm yellow lights flickered as the band concluded their set. Fans slowly trickled out of the venue, stopping at the merch stand in the back and gesticulating grandly while making their exit with friends.