Currently based in Los Angeles, j.o.y.s. is a collective started by Ramon Narvaez; a multi-instrumentalist/poet of Puerto Rican descent that split time growing up in Central New Jersey and The Bronx.

j.o.y.s. is an acronym for “jump out of your skin”. While the phrase can conjure moments of shock and surprise, Narvaez, however uses the phrase as a foot lamp illuminating a path towards momentary transcendence - a sudden or gradual process of skin-shedding of former selves and past lives. j.o.y.s., as an album, reconciles with the past before blissfully stumbling into something new.

The music on j.o.y.s. follows a similar serpentine path. An album comprising 9 songs that represent the culmination of countless hours of experimentation and collaboration that went into the recording process. This consisted of Narvaez living in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles using a spartan set-up of electric guitar, a few pedals and a laptop and Narvaez’s longtime friend and collaborator Justin Gaynor contributing pedal steel from his apartment in Crown Heights in Brooklyn. The synchronicity not lost on the two, the theme of travel or trekking is prominent on the album - both in the physical sense and across the ribbon of memory that shape our identity.

To that end, Narvaez’s friendship and collaboration with Justin Gaynor (who releases music under the name Bestamo) started in High School in Piscataway, New Jersey, extended into the heady days of early aughts Brooklyn and continued even when Narvaez moved across the country. The two would dedicate Fridays to improvising and exploring new sounds together through video chat - bending time around them to keep their collaboration alive. A Tim Hecker show and Relatives in Descent by Protomartyr were pivotal gifts from the universe that would encourage Narvaez to turn these improvisations with Gaynor into a fully fleshed record. This led to Narvaez seeking out Sonny DiPerri, whose production credits include julie, Wisp, DIIV, Emma Ruth Rundle, my bloody valentine as well as Protomartyr’s Relatives in Descent to mix j.o.y.s. and serve as the resident mentor / spiritual advisor. During these sessions Narvaez would use this opportunity to understand how DiPerri worked, why he liked what he liked and why he made decisions during production. Following this tutelage, Adam Gonsalves was brought on to master the record for vinyl.