Joyce Manor have distilled the sound of watching gentrification happen to your favourite grimy neighbourhood into Californian punk gold. Their sixth album, ‘I Used To Go To This Bar’ drips with nostalgia and lo-fi sincerity, and at around twenty minutes long, it speeds past, offering a grainy window into what’s occupying the minds of Barry Johnson and co.Â
Every song feels like a fleeting memory in the best possible way. ‘All My Friends Are So Depressed’ floats like an apology read via a long distance phone call;  all stream of consciousness urgency, non-sequiturs and dreamlike guitar, and ‘Falling Into It’ is indie nostalgia with shades of grown-up Weezer in its cute, biting flow. The bittersweet title track bounces with anecdotal verve and a joyful, longing chorus, and the frantic ‘The Opossum’ screeches at breakneck speed into the shoutalong ‘Well, Don’t It Seem Like You’ve Been Here Before?’. There’s so much abstract joy to behold in this record and a whole landscape compressed into these brief songs. ‘I Used To Go To This Bar’ inhabits a timeless punk space in between coats, influences and genres. It’s conciseness is part of its charm, and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it lyrical shots require at least two listens to grasp. You’re swept up into this remembered world of their minds, and it’s intoxicating.
There’s a post-punk darkness lurking at the edges of their newly-acquired jangle. The taut rhythm driving ‘After All You Put Me Through’ erupts into synth-powered release, and the mournful chords strengthening ‘Grey Guitar’ add a warning burst into the night sky. Joyce Manor have used their time away to take stock and add a new perspective to their sound, an outsider introspection that plays very well for them.
In a sense, this album feels like a culmination of their sound. If we compare any track on ‘I Used To Go To This Bar’ to, say, 2013’s ‘Constant Headache’ or the crashing spit of 2014’s ‘Catalina Fight Song’, we’ve got all the Joyce Manor qualities of honestly and flowing insight turned up to eleven. They’re quieter now, but no less fluent or nuanced in their songwriting, their lighter touch paying off in allowing us to appreciate the melodic force they pour into each song. The sanding down of any blunt edges has given way to a prevailing and gorgeous sense of longing. Joyce Manor’s new incarnation is reflective, nostalgic and completely absorbing wallflower gold.
KATE ALLVEY