There are a few things you must understand about Joyride before you fall in love with his most recent single “On The Level” off his upcoming album, Sunrise Chaser! He has been Spit Syndicate’s touring DJ for years and was one half of the hilariously brilliant electronic duo The Meeting Tree, who are performing a comeback gig this NYE at New Years Eve In The Park in Sydney. He has had huge Sydney resident gigs, collaborated with just about every hip hop artist and was once hesitantly declared the tallest man to ever grace the Triple J studios. Joyride is huge in height, huge in personality, with a huge voice and a huge meme collection to match. (Check out Joyride and The Meeting Tree’s Instagram for a laugh and a half.)
Now ignore everything I just said because Joyride’s music over this last year doesn’t sound anything like what I just described. Transitioning away from the soulful groove of Hermitude produced, 2017 Hottest 100 track “Aunty Tracey’s Cookies,” Joyride is now producing eloquent and healing stripped back songs. “Blue Batemans” was written after the South Sydney Rabbitohs won the 2014 NRL Grand Final and Joyride said he will “never forget that feeling of shared euphoria.” He then named the song after a certain illicit drug by the same name, that gives you the feeling of pure ecstasy (hint hint.) This pretty much summarised Joyride’s most recent singles: that feeling of liberating joy you can experience while listening to music you love.
“On The Level” released yesterday, is the fifth single off Sunrise Chaser, with the album set to be unleashed on November 9th. Boasting the same smooth sense of elation, with a more silky and hazy ballad, “On The Level” sees Joyride backed by piano and cello, but it’s impossible to take your focus off his tantalising and paralysing vocals. Whilst, guest vocalist Sarah Corry helps lift the track further, thanks to some gorgeous harmonies and velvety vocals.
The video features the pair melancholily waltzing through a games arcade, playing the piano and typical arcade games. Paired with the lyrics you might associate with a long come down, the games arcade setting comes across as explaining the cliché that bright lights and glitz and glam doesn’t automatically lead to happiness.
If Joyride can’t get any better, just listen to the way he poetically and deeply explains his upcoming album and life on a seemingly never-ending bender:
“a collection of stories about being 20-something legends on the weekend in Sydney’s Inner West. It explores different genres like a Bluetooth speaker on a bend. It explores the emotional spectrum that exists between Friday and Monday, including the bits we maybe try not to explore all the time.”
The album features a mixed bag of great and distinctive vocalists and producers such as Hermitude, Nina Las Vegas and Holy Holy‘s Oscar Dawson. The countdown is on and with fourteen days until the album’s release, “On The Level” is the faultless, and last taste we will get before it drops.
For more information about Joyride visit his website HERE and remember to check out his hilarious Instagram and Twitter.
