Don’t let the crunchy industrial electronica and skittering trap beats of early singles “Pixelated Kisses” and “Last of Dying Breed” fool you. The majority of George Kunusoki Miller’s fourth album as “Joji”, Piss in the Wind, is saturated with the maudlin, self-defeating ruminations we’ve come to expect from the former YouTube memelord (AKA Filthy Frank) turned sadboy musician. This is a record on which the enigmatic Japanese-Australian artist – best known for his 2022 piano ballad “Glimpse of Us” – conjures a restless inertia over 19 sketchy tracks that never reach the three-minute mark.
Looking back at reviews of Joji’s last album, Smithereens, I noticed the word “underdeveloped” got thrown around a lot. He’s since left his former label, 88Rising, and is releasing Piss in the Wind under his own, Palace Creek. Now he doubles down on the lo-fi sound and impressionistic songwriting in a way that suggests the nagging incompleteness in the material is intentional. It feels like a sonic extension of the thwarted yearning of which Miller sings. This can feel frustrating. But many of the comments posted on YouTube beneath the one minute 50 second single “Pixelated Kisses” find fans wishing the track were longer, suggesting Miller has nailed the art of leaving his audience wanting more. As a man who made his name online with quick, attention-grabbing, dopamine hits of comedy, Miller now makes music that deals with the fallout of the internet’s silly highs – evoking the twitchy depression of the doomscroller’s quest for unattainable connection.
