Jay Crocker by Johanna Hayes
Joyfultalk
Jay Crocker guitar,electronics
Aaron Mangle drums
Al Melnyk synthesizer
Lori Freedman clarinets
Joyfultalk is the brainchild of composer, producer, arranger, instrument builder, multi-instrumentalist and multimedia artist Jay Crocker, an Albertan transplant to rural Nova Scotia. His richly varied output embraces the physicality of live instrumentation alongside the colouristic possibility of electronics and variously employs graphic scores, handmade kinetic sculpture, and junked/recuperated objects. Crocker delicately weaves between human interaction and machine clockworks.
For his past three recordings, Crocker has been working with legendary Montreal imprint Constellation and has been heard at MUTEK Montréal while exhibiting for his award-winning installation work BIBELOT. Crocker's music has received acclaim in prominent media such as The New York Times, The Wire, Uncut, The Quietus, The Globe And Mail, the BBC and MusicWorks. His latest album, Familiar Science (out May 6th, 2022) sees him paying collagist homage to Ornette Coleman's harmolodic funk.