If there’s one thing Joji consistently delivers on, it’s a damn good ballad. Ever since his debut EP in 2017, the Japanese-Australian musician has scored hit after hit by blending his polished croon with forward-facing alt-R&B beats. But 2022’s stripped-back, piano-led ‘Glimpse Of Us’ netted Joji his biggest smash yet. Turns out, he didn’t even need the fancy production: Joji just has this innate talent for sounding utterly heartbroken while avoiding too much schmaltz.
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‘Piss In The Wind’ follows through on Joji’s penchant for lovesick lyricism, but this time with a twist. Dipping his toes into indie rock and club stylings, it’s a 21-song beast with a handful of tracks barely clocking in at two minutes. The result is an explorative, impressionistic album journey – one where songs ebb and flow far too quickly.
That restlessness is especially frustrating when Joji excels in the tracks he’s putting down. The unpolished charm of ‘Love You Less’ and its bleary shoegaze tones only heightens the brutal clarity of Joji’s voice as he sings despondently: “If I love you less / Will you love me more?”. Then there’s songs like ‘If It Only Gets Better’, which pairs folky instrumentation like fingerpicked guitars and handclaps with a menacing 808 – a devilish combination that ends too prematurely.
The numerous dance tracks Joji peppers in continue to expose his struggle to develop any of his ideas. ‘DYKILY’ repeats the same Jersey club beat to little effect, while ‘Last Of A Dying Breed’ introduces a shuffling techno beat that’s piggybacked by ‘Love Me Better’ a few tracks later. The problem is, ‘Last Of A Dying Breed’ and its mournful choir vocals are way more successful in creating atmosphere than the sparse minimalism of ‘Love Me Better’, leaving the latter feeling hollow and derivative.
It’s a shame the tracklist feels like a slog, especially when hard-hitting trap bangers like ‘Pixelated Kisses’ kick off proceedings. There’s little breathing room to appreciate songs like the melancholy of ‘Past Won’t Leave My Bed’ or the clubby catharsis of ‘Rose Coloured’ – they’re buried between numerous loose sketches that fail to contribute to a bigger picture.
There’s a sense that Joji’s tried to patchwork a wider narrative by creating fleeting vignettes. Unfortunately, by making snapshot songs, he’s created a scattershot album. ‘Piss In The Wind’ plants plentiful seeds for Joji’s next direction – now, he just needs to let the good ideas grow.
Details
Record label: Palace Creek
Release date: February 6, 2026
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