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Sick Joy: a blistering gail of new noise ups the ante with follow-up More Forever.

A doomed catalogue to drown yourself in, Sick Joy is the heady brainchild of Mykl Barton. Derived from the dwellings of Newcastle’s underground caverns and finally formulated within Brighton’s renowned music scene further South, Bartons’ first venture was an aptly aggressor of WE’RE ALL GONNA F***ING DIE in 2022. Pulsing chords derived from Death From Above 1979 along with a swooning voice – ‘noise-pop’ was the coinage of choice for the music. Frankly, it’s a term that does not do an iota of justice for the Geordie-born.

Now just over three years later, Mykl is back with his sophomore, More Forever. Although a somewhat formulaic name for a music record – especially your second – it holds up for a songwriter who is constantly gleaning his craft. Throughout its stint of just over half an hour, we see glimpses of Mykl experimenting, perfecting his established sound and just having a real doozy.

All Damage is not-standing-on-ceremony anthem out the gate, while Nothing Good deplores out a strenuous relationship as the astutely addictive Anything Goes comes with a glare in the dark. Perhaps coining the term ‘noise-pop’ is perhaps best represented on Cinnamon Bun, a straightforward anthem but certainly not devoid of anything boring. A seductive synth swelling sets the tempo before we’re lunged into a supporting cast of swampy grunge, slugging through those guttural chords again.

Gone Missing evokes more ’90s grunge – gloomy instrumentals met with an iconic timbre of voice. Whereas Video Game stretches into a more hopeful resonance that also stretches Sick Joy’s ability in creating more dimensional swathes of alternative rock.

Molding the future shape of noise rock – in an unequivocally saturated market – Sick Joy brings together a taut album worthy to be taken seriously.

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