What does Molly Joyce sound like?

Delicate synth work, minimal drones, ethereal vocals, and a clever use of music technology.

The review of ‘State Change’ by Molly Joyce

When Molly Joyce was seven years old, she was involved in a car accident that nearly amputated her left hand. Many surgeries later, Molly’s hand remains impaired, but her passion for creativity and exploring new ways to create sounds has not. Using gesture-controlled and pressure-sensitive tools to create her music, Joyce creates her most personal album to date: ‘State Change’. It chronicles key dates in Molly’s journey (to date) with the accident and her surgeries.

The album opens with ‘August 6 1999’, the date of the accident. The album opens with a high-pitched whine through the ears as we come to. Tension flutters around underneath the drifting, ethereal drones of the opening track. The song plays out like a slow-motion unfurling of disaster. It is also the date of the first operation, and there is something quite clinical about the synths used in this piece. They sound like hospital equipment, as if recounting the focused precision required to reset bones and wounds. ‘August 9 1999’ ups the pressure and intensity, as Molly’s voice reaches a disquieting, shrill unease. Later on, her vocals sizzle under a pink noise effect as Molly’s voice loses tone and pitch and flips into a crying howl. Throughout the album, the lyrics straddle between describing medical procedures and descriptions of the state her body is in. It’s probably the most musical medical journal I’ve heard, but its gruesome detail may not be for everyone. Buzzing bass synths and pulsating synapses pulsate like butterflies caught in a jar, shrouding the whole track in an uncomfortable tone.

Into the depths of muscles transfers and skin grafts comes ‘Augst 13 + 16 1999’. This painful double surgery has guest artist Fire-Toolz providing a possessed, visceral vocal performance – going full screamo in the background of Joyce’s more angelic yet unhinged vocals. The synths are like needles, tattooing muscle and skin from one body part to another. The fact that the graft didn’t take and needed to be removed provides this hellish soundscape with its duality. It is as if Fire-Toolz is personifying the rejection of the skin from the body. ‘November 24 1999’ is a solemn, reflective track. Chronicling a nerve graft, its vocoder-heavy delivery over electric synth waves, we drift through empty, floating spaces of thoughts and feelings lost. It culminates in Molly Joyce wrestling with what she can no longer feel or do. “I have feelings of one movement lost”, she sings – mournful and curious at the same time.

With the first half of the album dealing with the descent down into the rabbit hole of surgeries and hardships, ‘April 19 2000’ marks the ascension back out. It’s the point where Molly’s wrist joint is opened to start regaining some function. The track is built upon two sawtooth waves that shimmer back and forth. They are triggered by the gesture-controlled twist of Joyce’s hand. Gurgling effects bubble in the distance, as if the body is clearing itself of stagnation, and Molly’s voice is lighter, produced in a more ethereal manner. That lo-fi vocal works beautifully for the hushed vocals of ‘October 26 2001’. This is when pins were removed from Joyce’s hand, giving her a new range of motion. The song is performed using a pressure sensor beneath her left hand, which controls how the harmonic textures of the synths play out. It’s the shortest, but most elegant piece on the album.

The final track jumps forward to ‘July 27 2007’. As much a reflection on eight years of living with an impairment as it is a scar reduction surgery, this track is an aural sigh. From bright organs, to tender vocals, to cloudy hues that ooze with balance and duality, it’s a beautiful conclusion to a journey that continues well beyond ‘State Change’. Whilst Molly acknowledges what she’s lost, she doesn’t want a pity party about it either. Instead, she’s intrigued about breaking through perceived barriers or constraints. Molly remembers that there is so much she has learnt about herself and her many other abilities along the way.

‘State Change’ is not an easy listen. At times, it’s challenging, and that’s the point. Molly Joyce takes us on a deeply personal journey, demons and all, and the sonic diary of her surgeries is intensely powerful to experience. The creativity from Joyce to bring colour and subtle nuance to each song is fantastic. The music technology she interacts with is well worth exploring, too. A quiet protest to ableism and a case of show, don’t tell, makes ‘State Change’ a fascinating album well worth your time. Pro tip – it shines with a good set of headphones!

Recommended track: November 24 1999

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