Joywave
How Do You Feel Now?
HOLLYWOOD
5/10
It’s right there in the name. Joywave: a tacky, albeit memorable combination of painfully generic indie-band-generator type words that hits you for a second, but soon passes over before crashing weakly to shore. Listening to Joywave’s debut LP How Do You Feel Now? feels a bit like that as well—modestly pleasing at points, but before you know it, you’re standing in a still wake. Admittedly, the waves of joy do come in somewhat convincingly on the album’s first half (opening tracks “Somebody New” and “Carry Me” both feature enough quick bursts of synth-driven anthemic melodies to get stuck in your head), but besides that, the personality of the Rochester, New York-based quintet is lacking enough foundation to make the whole listening experience wholly enjoyable. How do I feel now, you ask? I don’t know, guys. A little bored, honestly. Probably shouldn’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to.