***Montreal’s NO JOY returns to Mexican Summer with Negaverse. Here is the moment in which the group’s roots and influences grow inward, pushing JASAMINE WHITE, LAURA LLOYD and GARLAND HASTINGS further back into the studio for five brand new songs which challenge the traditional rock band dynamic of their previous releases. Electronic drums and rhythmic loops accompany the live drums in a way that accentuates the presence of both roles, the soundtrack of life from indoors and on the road, riddled with heat and anxiety. From the blast of gnarled collage in opening track “Junior” to the fortified wall of fuzz on closer “Smiley Face,” it’s abundantly clear that they are traveling back to a moment in music where things weren’t as well-defined, before the label of “shoegaze” was grafted onto the kind of punk-rooted noise that was intent on little more than making red glitter run out of your ears.