On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got two Canadian songwriter/performers with similar outlooks but pretty different results—both great. It’s Ada Lea and No Joy.

Though it used to be more of a band, No Joy has become the solo province of Jasamine White-Gluz in recent years. She just released the first No Joy record in five years, Bugland, and it’s a whiplash-inducing delight. There’s an undercurrent of classic shoegaze, but no limits on where else things can go. So one minute you’ve got nods to ‘90s bands like Curve or even Garbage, the next minute the guitars are grunting and crunching. Bugland, which recently got the Best New Music nod from Pitchfork, was created with help from Chicago producer/musician Fire-Toolz, and the collaboration was fruitful. It’s funny, because it doesn’t sound at all like music that would be made by somebody who recently moved to a positively rural area—they chat about that move in this episode. Check out the title track from Bugland right here.

The other half of today’s chat is Alexandra Levy, who records more spare songs than her friend under the name Ada Lea. Where No Joy takes a more kitchen-sink approach, Ada Lea leaves more breathing room, sometimes adding just touches of acoustic color to her voice. The third Ada Lea album, When I Paint My Masterpiece, also came out earlier this year, and its unfussy, live-in-a-room approach makes it feel engagingly up-close and personal, not to mention beautiful. Check out “Baby Blue Frigidaire Mini Fridge” right here.

In this engaging chat, Levy and White-Gluz talk about living largely off the grid, the various mini-scenes that populate their home country, and a little bit of astrology. Enjoy.

Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Jasamine White-Gluz of No Joy and Alexandra Levy of Ada Lea for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all the great stuff at Talkhouse.com. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme was composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

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