Brandt Brauer Frick Find Unlikely 'Joy' on Their New Album

Have you ever considered what happiness sounds like—especially when it's hard won? That's the question at the center of Berlin trio Brandt Brauer Frick fourth studio album, Joy, out October 28.

Since debuting in 2008, Daniel Brandt, Jan Brauer, and Paul Frick have been recognized for their unconventional, classical-informed approach to techno. It's always been a cerebral and body-heaving blend, but this time around, the trio have decided to foreground emotion too. The follow-up to 2013's Miami is the band's first vocal-focused LP, composing and recording the entirety of Joy alongside Canadian singer-poet Beaver Sheppard. In a press release, it's said that the lyrics explore "post-religious themes, such as struggling to find joy in times of uncertainty and instability."

Joy sees them shift their creative direction to experiment with and incorporate musical styles not typically associated with its namesake emotion, including "krautrock, punk, drum'n'bass, indie rock, new wave, and pretty much every other '-wave' there was in the 80s," a press release states. You can hear these diverse and straight faced influences on the album's first single "You Can Buy My Love," but the effect is still uplifting. In the track's video, which you can stream below, Sheppard stares down the camera, his drone-like vocals drilling through a dilapidated, drum-heavy beat and soaring string choruses amidst a fast-flashing display of neon lights. Sort of like they promise in the record's themes, there's joy where you'd least expect it.

Watch "You Can Buy My Love" below alongside Joy's tracklist below, and preorder Joy here ahead of its release on October 28 via Because Music.

Joy tracklist:

1. You Can Buy My Love
2. City Chicken
3. Poor Magic
4. Blackout 94
5. Society Saved Me
6. Keep Changing
7. Holy Night
8. Oblivious
9. Facetime
10. Away From My Body