Joviale - Mount Crystal (Electric Periwinkle Vinyl) Vinyl LP

On Mount Crystal, Joviale creates music that feels like a full-blown show, where drama arises from the tension between pop impulses and cerebral, sensorial experimentation. A multidisciplinary artist from North London, Joviale emerged as a theater kid and now channels their prismatic creativity across visual art, performance, and recording into a singular artistic universe. Following the 2021 Hurricane Belle EP, which caught the attention of Pitchfork and Crack Magazine, Joviale quietly receded from view to evolve as a writer and producer. In 2025, they return with Mount Crystal, their full-length debut on Ghostly International—an ascendant conceptual album that reintroduces their singular point of view. Electric and soulful, the songs mix jazzy experimentation, rhythmic rock, and vibrant sound design, realized with co-producers John Carroll Kirby and Jkarri, alongside collaborators including Sam Wilkes, Carter Lang, and Will Miller.

Originally imagined as a play, Mount Crystal brims with life—peril, humor, and the buzz of the human spirit—creating a metaphysical climb that transcends the audio format. Joviale describes it as a mirrored dimension where desire, danger, and desperation are laid bare, tearing apart illusions of pleasure through the alchemy of personal experience and musicality. Inspired by Prince’s 1986 film Under the Cherry Moon and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, Joviale envisioned Mount Crystal as a murder mystery, casting collaborators as characters: co-producer John Carroll Kirby as an American cop, Joviale and Fabiana Palladino and Laura Groves as hotel entertainers, and Jkarri as the ever-present handyman. This loose framework fostered a playful, anything-goes approach during recording sessions, which took place in various makeshift studios, including Joviale’s living room in Barcelona.

Joviale’s personality reverberates throughout Mount Crystal. Their vocals soar and swagger through rubbery basslines, angular strums, synthesized horns and harps, unruly beats, and unusual sound bites. The songs leap from the speakers like an engrossing movie, combining influences from Sade, Kate Bush, Janet Jackson, Todd Rundgren, ’60s girl groups, Japanese composers, and the divas of ’80s glam rock and R&B. While fictional frameworks drive the narrative, the tracks are rooted in lived experience—broken-hearted letdowns, revelations, and the search for clarity.

Tracks like the lightly psychedelic “The Mountain” warn, “careful not to slip and fall you are not invincible,” while “Snow” likens faded love to a cold winter’s day. The supercharged centerpiece, “HARK!,” merges sinister funk with serene majesty, Joviale shouting, “Not even them mountains can stop you! Not even them angels can help you!” over scratching records, guitar solos, and wild voices. During recording, the group leaned into an “evil groove,” fueled by Michael Jackson’s Thriller playlist, with co-producer John Carroll Kirby encouraging playful excess.

Later tracks continue the album’s vivid storytelling: “Foul Play” depicts a couple’s fight escalating at a party, complete with absurd sound effects like revving chainsaws; “Let Me Down” channels the opera diva persona, allowing Joviale to explore jealousy, pride, and anger; “Moonshine” emerged from spontaneous jams inspired by Prince muses Sheila E., Vanity, and Chaka Khan, featuring James Mollison of Ezra Collective on saxophone; and the late-album comedown “Blu!” marked Joviale’s first experience “writing in communion” with a collaborator, blending Jkarri’s sweet-toned contributions with Joviale’s heady cadence over Kirby’s keys.

Beyond metaphorical mountains and murder mysteries, Mount Crystal is a declaration of artistic identity and purpose. It celebrates patience, collaboration, and surrendering to the creative process, revealing a pop record emerging from a world of experimentation. In the warm closing scene “Disappear,” the album resolves, and on the hand-clapped “Wishing,” Joviale sings, “We have come a long way,” answered by a second voice, “I go where I need to go.” In that moment, surrounded by their collaborators, Joviale affirms acceptance and the lesson learned: life keeps moving forward.