Dwarf Mountain Alphabet

Description

Dwarf Mountain Alphabet is an album by the American synthpop band Joy Electric (Ronnie Martin), Kickstarter-funded and independently released on Ronnie Martin’s own label eepsociety in December 2012. The album was recorded at Ronnie Martin’s studio The Early Electronic Preservation Society and was written and programmed by Martin. “This record contains analog synthesizers and vocals only.”

At the end of last year, within weeks of each other, Jason and Ronnie Martin released their fan-funded projects. Ronnie chose to put out Dwarf Mountain Alphabet (love that title) on CD, housing it in a simple, elegant, single-color package. The austere artwork belies the fact that this is one of the most surprising stylistic leaps in Joy Electric’s long career. While previous Joy E records felt constructed, built up brick by brick according to some dense blueprint, this one is minimalist, bouncy, zippy fun. It’s almost – dare I say it? – dance music.

For this record, Ronnie pulled out the polyphonic synths for the first time in ages, meaning we get oodles of big, fat chords. The songs are built around four-on-the-floor beats, pulsing bass burbles, and only one or two synthesizer lines. There’s so much space in these songs you could walk through them, but the airy quality adds a lightness that’s been missing from Joy E for a while. Dwarf Mountain opens with an instrumental, the very ‘80s «And This No More», and there ain’t much to it aside from those wonderful, warm chords, but it’s a delight.

Ronnie’s shaky voice remains his weak link, particularly when he stretches himself on the first single, «Whose Voice Will Not Be Heard». It’s never been a fatal flaw, however, and the glittering, immersive music more than makes up for it. Check out «Stark Obscurity», my favorite thing here. It crashes to life with a very Michael Jackson beat and bass line, before the Blade Runner synths come in, and it builds up and up, matching menace with catchiness, and culminating in a wonderfully old-school keyboard solo. By the end of this song, Ronnie will have sold you on his new sound.

As always, though, it’s his songs that rule the day. The 10 tracks on Dwarf Mountain are as well-crafted as ever, from the infectious «Let the Past Go», to the Yaz-tastic «Further Into Light», to the melancholy closer «Notes From a Chapter». «Sing Once for Me» is a remake of a song from 2001’s The White Songbook, and it illustrates the leap Ronnie’s made here – the original was a puzzle box of interlocking moving parts, while this new one is so feather-light it’s almost effervescent.

I have no idea if this style shift is permanent, or just another Joy Electric experiment in a long line of them. I do know that Dwarf Mountain Alphabet is one of Ronnie Martin’s most fun records, and if he wants to keep making these, I’ll keep paying for them. Joy E is a singular experience even when Ronnie isn’t flipping his own script, as he has here. [Andre Salles, Tuesday Morning 3 a.m., January 16, 2013]

CD tracklist:

01. And This No More (Instrumental) – 3:53
02. Whose Voice Will Not Be Heard – 3:52
03. Let The Past Go – 3:40
04. Stark Obscurity – 4:01
05. That Which Cannot Be Contained – 3:21
06. Light Has Lost Its Presence Here – 2:56
07. Further Into Light – 3:55
08. Sing Once For Me – 3:56
09. Sorrow Shall Find You – 3:41
10. Notes From A Chapter – 3:01

Note: CD packaging: Die-cut card sleeve, full-color print. Available at Joy Electric’s Bandcamp website: https://joyelectric.bandcamp.com/album/dwarf-mountain-alphabet