Joy Electric

Unelectric (BEC)
by Scott Hefflon

Well, not quite unelectric, but certainly not as frantically Euro-dance as usual. For those unfamiliar with Joy Electric, it’d be hard to describe the sound without making it sound awful… Ya know Alice DeeJay or that Whitney Houston song (I think it’s “My Love is Your Love” or something): really fast, infectious, totally ’80s-kitschy synthpop with melodies you hate yourself for loving? That’s basically what Joy Electric is usually all about. Wildly, giddily catchy and totally ’80s. Like when you hear a Pet Shop Boys or Human League or Information Society tune or whatever your guilty pleasure is and you wonder why “dance music” has been reduced to formulaic Britney and Backstreet clones… But anyway, Joy Electric brings it all back, all the joy and celebration of immaculate, delicate pop. And as for Unelectric, many of the songs have appeared on previous records in their “spruced up” versions, but these slow, touching, swirling and beautifully sad renditions were how they were originally written. So to connect it with something, I’ll liken it to Pet Shop Boy’s Behavior, a gorgeous, heartbreaking record from ’90 with the hits “So Hard” and “How Do You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?” and more non-suck soft songs than any other record I can think of. And that’s a comparison I don’t make lightly…
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