Joli — There Will Always Be A Reason
Joli is a suicide/ self-mutilation themed project of Spokane, Washington based Jason Wolpert, who also runs the wall noise/ ambient tape label Lost Light Records. It’s been active since around 2013- and has so far put out coming on for thirty releases- taking in stand-alone tapes, split cassettes with the likes of Eugene Critchley, digital releases, a few single CDR releases, and compilation tracks. There Will Always Be A Reason is the projects single the longest release to date- bringing together just shy of four hours of wall battery.
There Will Always Be A Reason appeared in an edition of ten copies of Minneapolis based Altar Of Waste. The plain label black text on white background CD’s came packaged in an oversized quadruple jewel case- this features a fittingly grim picture of a long-haired individual with razor slashed arms. Unfortunately, this set is now out of print with the label, and unlike a lot of recent wall releases, it comes only us a physical release- so if you fancy this it’ll be a matter of discogs.
The first untitled wall sees a truly crushing-yet- hope draining layering of blank-eyed & to constrict aquatic drone, with a steady mid-paced hacking static persistency. Of the four tracks here, I’d say this was personally the most effective for myself- as the textures really pulled me in nicely, and kept me in a starkly lulling trance.
The second untitled track is a cruel & numbing blend of rapid & rushing droning, caustically lashing juddering & jittering noise, with the occasional off-pattern hack. This track brought to mind sitting in the half-light of a dusty & cluttered suburban bedroom, staring at one's own pale & ugly frame- and pondering the futility of your existence…yep, as Khanate once said ‘there are no good times in here’.
The third untitled track sees the layering together of: a blunt & constantly circling grey drone, a mesh of locked-in & smaller cluttering descents, & sweeps of hissing buffeting. All to create the sonic equivalent of getting nailed into a rough & splinter ridden barrel, and thrown down rubbish roughened hill that’s been pelted by stingily unrelenting & bone-chilling November rain
The final untitled track is the shortest of the four coming in at just shy of the forty minute mark. It finds a muffled-yet-grinding low-end drone, squeezed & bayed by a rapidly descending & smashing static sear. At times I can make out an almost a semi rhymical junk metal like rush to proceedings, also the low-end has an effectively bothersome bass presence- all adding up to an effective final kicking out of the last threads of hope left in you.
There is nothing fancy, particularly varied, complex, or in anyway genre progressive about the four walls on display here- so if you’re after a daring or different take of the walled-noise/ static noise genre best look elsewhere. But if you fancy locking your ears( and soul) into a brutally buffeting & hope grinding near four-hour experience, then There Will Always Be A Reason will fit your needs.