Much has changed in the world of psychedelic pop quartet Mr. Joy since their sophomore album, The Dreamer’s Workbook. Three of the group’s four members have left Toronto, with bassist Harrison Forman (a.k.a. Hieronymus Harry) spending winter 2020 living in his trailer while traveling across the deserts of America. Yet despite this isolation, Mr. Joy remained collaborative over long distances while concocting their latest mini-album, Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! first began taking shape in a series of recording sessions with Toronto psych stalwart Patrick Lefler (ROY, Possum). Over the next year, these building blocks were shared among Mr. Joy’s members via email as each took turns tinkering in their respective homes, adding layer upon layer to a dubby lysergic haze. Drummer Asher Gould-Murtagh, who has recently worked on the production side with artists including Mother Tongues and Born Ruffians, then whittled the tracks down into their final spellbinding form.

“On The Dreamer’s Workbook we really indulged ourselves musically without worrying too much about a singular sound” says Mr. Joy vocalist Blob. “Whereas the songs for YYY were written in a short burst. Over a few rehearsals for a gig and tracked in that same live arrangement. It wasn’t until later that we started to experiment with dub mixing and resampling ourselves to produce the tracks"

Several of the songs on Yes! Yes! Yes! apply this process-oriented approach to their lyrics. Throughout nearly eight minutes of shimmering synths, burbling bass, and sundazed vocals, “Find” describes the joy in building music out of samples. “Do Re Mi” was first written for a rare duo performance by Mr. Joy members Blob and Steven McPhail (a.k.a. Robert Planet). As the song settles into a mesmerizing rhythm reminiscent of Panda Bear’s Person Pitch, its sparse lyrics describe one of the group’s creative philosophies.

“That song’s lyrics are about not forcing musicality onto a situation,” McPhail explains. “Instead of breaking it down to ‘do re mi’, it’s about avoiding that altogether to let whatever you feel come out of you. The lyrics of the whole song are ‘Do-re-mi / Don’t do-re-mi.’ Musicality can be both freeing and shackling depending on the scenario. The lyrics are a short testament to that balance.”

“Temptation” bobs in a buoyant stream of consciousness, adding twinkling keys and languid guitar twang into an enveloping soundscape that recalls The KLF’s Chill Out. In less than 40 seconds, “Till Death Soundz Of Music” rewires various elements of the previous three tracks, hinting at a possible future direction.


- Jesse Locke