A vibrant digital splash of neon paints a new layer of brilliance over the already glowing originality that is Joywave.
"Cleanse," the group's fourth album, washes off our collective anxiety, rinsing away the old and leaving a new, polished audio experience.
"Pray For The Reboot," kicks the album off with a proposal to start anew. To flood everything and wash it all away, not out of some sort of nihilistic outburst, but instead, a calculated reset, knowing full well that we are capable of so much more.
The idea that better is possible, seeps itself into the album's core with heels dug in, not willing to shake the ambition of a perfect world.
There is a driving force of change kept in mind at all times with an authenticity that can't be challenged or discredited.
The album wears its heart on its sleeve with unadulterated idealism while remaining grounded and conscious of every tone.
The album's midway point, however, is its most vulnerable, proven true by the honesty entwined into the fifth song "After Coffee."
The song sends a clear message that being too afraid to jump is understandable when the landing isn't clear, but sometimes circumstances warrant a gamble and you have no choice but to leap.
The unknown can be a beautiful place to throw yourself into and that all-or-nothing attitude continues through the 10 tracks until the album comes to a close with a question.
A rhetorical one, aimed at the hearts of all who dare to slap their true self under the microscope and accept the findings.
The dream-like final track "Have You Ever Lit A Year On Fire?" draws the listener into a stasis of pure introspection until truth prevails and all faults are exposed.
"Cleanse" is less of a culmination of the last three albums and more of its own animal. One that treads in deeper water, holding its own with the big fish, surviving in an always churning sea, never fully ready, but always willing to face what's next.
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