We Are the Music Makers

Description

We Are the Music Makers is the sophomore full-length album by the American synthpop band Joy Electric, released on Tooth & Nail Records in 1996.

Ronnie Martin quickly followed up this album with yet another EP, entitled Old Wives Tales.

I’ve been a fan of Ronnie Martin’s ever since his days in Dance House Children. His beautiful synth-pop, mixed with delightfully innocent and childish lyrics and a delicate voice was always a beautiful contrast. That formula carries over into his Joy Electric days, but the music has even more depth.

It’s easy to dismiss Joy Electric as electronic “beep beep”/video game music (as my roommate and many friends do). It’s probably this reason that he fails to get any recognition in this age of punk wannabes and rehashes. However, digging beneath the surface, you see that all of those electronic bells and whistles are merely trappings for some of the most beautiful pop songs and melodies you’ll find. Case in point: «May All Saints» features a very heavy “bleeps and beeps” content, but you also hear poignant, drifting synth melodies, along with Ronnie’s delicate, almost effeminate vocals. However, many people will just stop at the surface and won’t hear the beauty contained in each of these 10 songs.

This album also sees an increase in Martin’s lyrical depth. The lyrics are rife with medieval imagery, which makes for a delightful contrast with the synthesizers and electronic sounds. On «Burgundy Years», Martin sings:

The scepter song hearkens dominion
To sew the champion
The mantle of the sword bearer
Becomes the hummers harp of elation
Foes from the northern nook
And spirits from the fall
Behold the ancient emperor
Has arms outstretched to all

There is also Christian imagery presented, but Martin again shows his tact and tastefulness by using stirring images and poetic language to paint a beautiful picture of God and His love. Not once does Martin resort to cliché or brow-beating. His lyrics are well-written and several images have multiple meanings, adding more dimension to the songs without sacrificing any emotional ties. I rarely come across a writer who is as open about his desires, failures, and loves as Ronnie Martin.

At the risk of sounding cheesy, Joy Electric’s music brings back a sort of wistfulness for more innocent, carefree days. Maybe it’s the hooks and melodies that hit me, or the unpretentious lyrics, or the pure electronic sounds he uses. While this music may not be for everyone, I’m convinced that Joy Electric writes the best pop songs on the planet, electronic or not. I love Ronnie Martin’s music, and it’s sad to see such a genius fail to get the respect he so richly deserves. [Jason Morehead, Opus, March 2005]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/we-are-the-music-makers/724501909)

CD tracklist:

01. Burgundy Years – 4:05
02. Old Castle Madrigal – 4:25
03. The Harvestry Of Ghosts – 4:45
04. Hansel (I Will Be Your Friend) – 3:54
05. Christendom On White Horses – 4:54
06. Pilgrimage (Lo, I Am With You Always) – 4:20
07. The 100 Knighthood – 4:18
08. May All Saints – 4:51
09. The Road To Monarchy – 4:32
10. I Beam, You Beam – 4:46

Note: Released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl LP, and CD by Tooth & Nail Records.

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A full-page advertisement for various new releases on Tooth & Nail Records, including Joy Electric’s We Are The Music Makers, was featured in the April 1996 issue of CCM Magazine.

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By this time, Ronnie Martin became increasingly fascinated with the idea of musical “purism”. Finding inspiration in ’70s electronic bands that were “purists” out of necessity (having nothing but simple analog synthesizers with which to assemble an entire collage of blurpy sounds), Martin delegated nearly his entire studio to the closet and vowed to build an album up, brick by brick, from the sounds of just one master synthesizer. Under this constraint he went to work – designing, programming, and storing all his sounds for the new album in a Roland JD-990.

Putting all his eggs in one basket (or synthesizer in this case) left Martin particularly vulnerable to one perennial problem: his synthesizer’s storage memory got wiped clean. It’s uncertain how this happened, but halfway through the new album Martin found that all his work had been lost. Martin had to begin again from scratch. Taking this opportunity to reconsider his approach, he decided to move into an even more purist direction than before, determined to create a cohesive synthesizer concept album with a medieval, Tolkienesque feel. Since the first half-completed album is no longer in existence, it is impossible to gauge just how radical a change this was from Martin’s original effort.

We Are the Music Makers includes Arthurian songs of dim castles, assemblies of knights riding out to battle, dedications to monarchy, and crumbling recollections of Christendom. This Medieval theme was unusual subject matter for a mid-’90s electronic album.

Of all his albums, Martin consistently cites this as his least favorite. (On top of feeling burnt out from the amount of work he put into the album, he came to feel in retrospect that the albums’ more experimental sound concealed a somewhat subpar group of songs, in terms of hooks and melodies). Some find the album shows Martin’s inexperience at this new “purist” model. However, other fans claim that this album contains some of Martin’s most memorable and emblematic work, including «Burgundy Years», «Hansel (I Will Be Your Friend)», and «I Beam, You Beam».