‘Un eco silba lejos, Cada muro guarda, Secretos, líneas muertas, “Somos polvo en el aire”, El olvido se hace eterno, Un letargo tan glacial, Un desorden sempiterno’ / ‘An echo whistles far away, Each wall keeps, Secrets, dead lines, “We are dust in the air”, Oblivion becomes eternal, A lethargy so glacial, An everlasting disorder’ (Nimbus)

First discovering Joliette was one of those fine nights when you go to a gig and are simply blown away by a band who you barely know.  I’d popped along to Bermondsey’s DIY Space back in 2018 to catch Cassus, who were as excellent as ever, but knew little of what to expect from the evening’s headliners.  I was soon left reeling by a performance of absolute searing intensity, an unrelenting push-pull between velocity and intricacy.

Joliette are now back with their fourth full-length, Pérdidas Variables (Variable Losses), a seething psycho-geographical evocation of their Mexico City home.  Drawing on both physical and psychological inspirations, the impassioned vocals explore the routines and ruptures of urban life through the intertwined threads of memory and loss, renewal and decay, the comforting and the disconcerting.

Musically, the band continue to forge their own thoroughly distinctive emotional hardcore, deftly exploiting the tensions between their chaotic screamo and more expansive post-metal influences, while never diluting the hardcore heft that firmly roots their sound.  The powerfully supple rhythm section relishes both the complex and the spare in equal measure and provides the perfect foil for the serpentine, fiercely melodic guitar.

From the surging agitation of Limítrofe (Borderline) to the darkly pulsing Cielo Sordo (Deaf Sky), the fervency of Joliette’s embrace is all enveloping.   The album’s impact is, perhaps, though best captured by the title track itself.   The haunting guitar lead coils around your heart with a mesmerising stealth, sucking you ever deeper into its reverie, before the ethereally layered vocals deliver an utterly cathartic release.