Joyful

Andras’ Joyful is a cornucopic vision rooted in the decay of dance music from one of Australia’s most distinct yet understated voices. Cutting a path through an overgrowth of nostalgia around 70s acid folk and 90s acid house, Joyful is an invitation to till an old garden in a glistening new light.

A thirteen year old Andrew Wilson sits in the back of his parents’ sedan, driving down the coast from Melbourne. Headphones covering his awkwardly aged ears and connected to a jam-packed mp3 player, he experiences an intense synchronicity when the car careens over a mountain crest in the Otway Ranges right as the track in his ears peaks. A momentary vision of a “first rave rush,” in which Australia’s lauded party history dances tellingly with this dreamer’s destiny.

Not so much later but perhaps more worldly and certainly more aware, Wilson returns home from touring, now a “veteran” of the dance world, to realise a different synchronicity in his record collection. Finding Ian Van Dahl nestled next to John Fahey, William Orbit spine-to-spine with Shira Small, the harmony between folk music of the early 70s and dance music from the 90s becomes perfectly audible in unimaginable ways.

Tracklisting

1. Honeybird
2. Live Forever
3. Poppy
4. River Red
5. Harf Green
6. Saga of Sweetheart
7. Goggles