“It was a forest-y venue somewhere on the outskirts of Berlin. I remember trying to make something that he would’ve played in that set.”
Fast forward to Christmas Eve, and Joe’s kicking it at his folks’ place in Melbourne when he feels the urge to crack open his laptop and jump back into the sandpit, so to speak.
All good things take time, and finishing “Flawless” took its fair share. Funnily enough, it was Jackson who had access to the earliest iterations of the demo. “He liked it, which felt kismet and was playing it a bit in the one and a half years between germination and finished product.”
The final version stands out. If it were a criminal in a lineup, even a witness who’d only caught a glimpse of the perpetrator would pick them out instantly. Straight out the gate, there’s a palpable atmosphere. The very first bass notes are reminiscent of a healthy heartbeat – surrounded by underwater synths, bell chimes and shuffling drum strikes. As it rolls on, Joe brews an electric storm, introducing glitches that remind me of a computer crashing out.
“Flawless” feels alive, moving between inhalation and exhalation. Joe knows exactly when to tighten the rope and when to let it loosen, repeating the motion over and over. I’ve been to the New York Ballet a handful of times since moving to the city, and the energy those dancers conjure between one another feels reminiscent of what Joe has created.
