Born on a whim and sailing through tragedy, Chicago's experimental sound cub and maximalist melodist Cocojoey hangs off the ledge of infinity's crest while netting the fractured crystals of the universe in outstretched palms on their Hausu Mountain debut, a digi-orchestral odyssey, concisely and informatively titled, simply
Stars. They also make some hella wacky music- in a good way, in a fun way, in a sort of serious and enlightening way too. In another place, in another time, it would not be far-fetched to imagine Russell Mael or Dr. Demento leaping over each other to present Joey with pathfinding mentorship and formulative counsel- alas, in our forlorn era Joey may have only the distant spheres of atomic combustion to illuminate and gird their bearings (ok, so there is Doug and Max too, but let's be real, not all viable advice can be boiled down to Phish metaphors). Even in the swirling void of our present-day cultural miasma, these seemingly insignificant pinpricks of burning lights align in a constellation of ebullient steps for Joey, with the cosmos extending like the playfield of a pinball machine, attending to their quicksilver as they parlay impulses into a responsive material reality, simultaneously generating conductive flashes of joy and blissful energy in a tumbling accumulation of ephemeral fortune accelerated by a boundless sense of presence, that seeps into gaps of despair and terraforms them into dens of accentuated recognition. If any of this sounds intriguing to you, and I hope it does, then check out my interview with Cocojoey below, for a glimpse into their inner world:
Note that this interview was done in the fall of 2025, hence Joey's comments about what they planned to do over the winter (2026). I meant to release this interview in December (2025), but due to work, the holidays, travel, health stuff, and a lot of me just being me, its drop date got pushed back. Maybe Joey can write a distrack about my lack of time management. I would welcome the creative feedback.
