Joji shatters his 3 year hiatus with the release of ‘PIXELATED KISSES’
The musician returns after time away from the spotlight.
Photo: Evers Pund
Emerging from the darkness of three years of silence, George Miller — best known as Joji — has risen from the ashes with the release of his new song PIXELATED KISSES. Offering the first glimpse of Joji’s new sound, this is the first new music we’ve heard since his critically acclaimed 2022 album Smithereens, as fans hope this teases more music in the near future.
While offering a nod to the Joji we know and love, through heavy lyrics and fragile tones, the track itself is like nothing we have previously seen from his discography.
Short in length but timeless with impact, PIXELATED KISSES uses layers of synth and distorted bass to create a sound stretched and tangled through the wires of your headphones, leaving a glitchy and digital swell of music.
The theme of the lyrics echoes the classic style of Miller: emotional and chaotic, like unspoken words and unexpressed emotions tearing through the heart. Like his earlier albums, BALLADS 1 (2018) and Smithereens (2022), Joji’s new track conveys the heartbreak and anger of a love lost, with the added element of an experimental digital sound.
With artwork and a visualiser to accompany, PIXELATED KISSES emulates the sensation of staring at old photos from long ago, as the images and words slowly engrave themselves in the eyes of the viewer. It quickly becomes clear that they are nothing more than memories, and the past is the past. Nostalgia and reminiscence are all that remains of a time lost.
Darker than his more romantic and successful songs, such as Glimpse of Us (2022) and SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK (2018), Joji’s new song proves that he has no mould, as he remains a timeless and unique artist among the sea of modern music.
Entirely written, produced and recorded independently, much like his early SoundCloud and bedroom recording methods, this track proves that the original and authentic Joji is back, and that he had never really left.
PIXELATED KISSES is out now via Palace Creek.