Riding on a creative peak after their phenomenal album. Aerial and the unexpected success of a remixed, reworded version of Amen, Falling Joys did the logical thing - they toured the album and then went on holiday. Nothing though seems to keep the band out of the studio for very long; recorded last November, the EP Universal Mind is the first new material from the Joys since Aerial and is a logical progression from it. It's louder and less experimental, but still taps into the particular section of pop headspace that is definitely and definitively Falling Joys.
Those who caught the Joys during the latter stages of the Aerial touring marathon last year would have noticed that, despite the Spinal Tap syndrome coming into play with Jason Morrisby replacing Pete Velzen behind the drum kit, the band were not trying out new songs on audiences, preferring instead to stick with familiar material and give the lineup change a chance to settle in. The four songs on Universal Mind will be unfamiliar to just about everyone.
"Susie had had the songs for a while," says guitarist Stuart Robertson, "but we didn't get much opportunity to figure out the ins and outs of them. That sounds bad, but it was actually kind of good. We didn't want to overlook them, we didn't over-learn them, and recorded them fairly quickly - working with (producer) - Paul McKercher is pretty easy. It just took a couple of days, it was a really nice way to do it".
The songs on Universal Mind are not those that have been being worked up for the next album, though it's possible one or two may end up on it; indeed, it's something of a counterpoint to Aerial as much as it is a companion to it. Where Aerial songs were carefully layered and painstakingly recorded, these are much more a reflection of Falling Joys as a live band - big, loud and melodic, Could this be a return to rock-out mode?
"Kind of yeah," says Stuart. "But with Giant in there as well (the lush, cello-embellished I'll Just Have To Find Another Giant) there's a nice calm-down one too. I guess it's just exaggerating whichever way we're going. If it's going to be loud. then it's very loud, and if it's going to be soft, then it'll be very soft. And that song's working well live, which surprises me".
The live set has changed somewhat as well during the break; while the songs from the new EP are logically included, Aerial has been put on the back burner for now.
"There's not that many off Aerial, which is kind of strange, there's a couple of the classics off Aerial, but not that many. It's good having four new songs - we can get rid of four other songs we've been okaying for ages. But Lock It has been reinstated and reworked." Complete with long ending too, something that went missing last year as the song got progressively shorter...
The actual reasoning behind doing an EP rather than a full length album is not at all cryptic; having not had an album out for over a year, it was either get something out relatively fast or go into hiding for half a year to do a full-length record.
"It was quick, cheap, and just what the doctor ordered" is how Stuart puts it. "It was kind of weird, because a couple of days after we'd finished I was thinking that it was a bit of a strange thing to do, I didn't know whether it'd work. And then Died Pretty did the same thing, and so did a few other bands".
A 'proper' album is now the next thing on the schedule for the Joys, after the take Universal Mind to the various capital cities. Over the next few months it's likely that Falling Joys gigs will become more of a rare occurrence as the album starts to take shape' it it's a half a good as Aerial or the new EP it'll be well worth the wait.
Reproduced without permission