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Joanie - Neurotica EP Review

Joanie compels you to dance the night away with blinding lights, glitter and excess.

Darkness falls all around only for multi coloured beams to refract throughout the smoky space. Pounding bass, pumping drums and sidechained pads rhythmically thump back and forth across your surroundings, strobing the air before you. ‘Neurotica’ plummets down into dizzying, groove-defined tracks with volatile synthesisers. 

Released on Permanent Creep Records and produced by Jessica Winter, the E.P. winds its way between pulsating dance pop, post-punk and electronica. Beginning with distorted whistling, the calm is abruptly halted by powerful bass and exact neurotic drum rhythms. Explosive electronic infused dance beats burst forth and flood the space. 

The pummeling kick-snare pattern of ‘Schadenfreude’ quickly occupies any room with shifting wavelengths. Mounting vocals and synth pads escalate the track until a doubled saxophone emerges from the mix, flinging the song into untold depths. ‘Kerosene’ is equally incendiary. Its powerful chorus is permeated by jangling and warbling guitar; hailing back to the new-wave legacy of bands like Blondie or Lloyd Cole and the Commotions. 

Rumbling energetic bass provides the distorted unfaltering power in ‘Casino’. Halfway through the track slows right down with drums and bass obscured by a layer of modulating synthesiser. Suddenly, plunging out of the murky depths, the track throws itself back into the fluctuating chorus.

‘Your kind of Freak’ wholeheartedly indulges in dance pop inspired by the likes of St Vincent. Fluttering vocal melodies are underpinned by tight drums and erratic samples. Towards the end, the track is powered by catharsis. Individual elements amalgamate together to form a turbulent climax to the E.P.

Joanie’s debut E.P. ‘Neutotica’ seamlessly combines relentless post-punk style bass with electronic elements and dance pop production. Joanie compels you to dance the night away with blinding lights, glitter and excess.