JOUDY TRANSFORMS CONSTANT BURNOUT INTO RELEASE ON NEW RECORD PERMANENT MAINTENANCE OUT NOW VIA TRASH CASUAL

From Brooklyn via Venezuela, Joudy release their unvarnished and love-torn album Permanent Maintenance on Trash Casual. Set aside, for now, are the evocative lyrics and lush soundscapes of their earlier releases. In their place, lyrical and sonic directness is embraced, finding Joudy distilling their soaring rock into something heavier, hot-blooded and cathartic.

Taking their album title from a mechanic shop of the same name, there is a throughline of machine-made elements across the record. Frontman Diego Ramirez recognized he had existed in survival mode for so long, this album was the first time he stopped to process. Mirrored by a political climate that banks on our constant burnout, Permanent Maintenance is a record of personal stories that reach across an entire society.

“‘Permanent Maintenance’ is about accepting that we’re never finished—that healing, love, resistance, and self-discovery are all part of a lifelong process of becoming,” says Ramirez.

Originally formed in their hometown of San Cristobal, Venezuela, in the mid 2010s, before the band members fled the intense political climate that was brewing in their home nation, Joudy’s journey has taken a long road from from South America to the east coast of the United States. “A frustrated dream that we’ve carried for years” is how Ramirez refers to it. The band is rounded out by Hulrich Navas (drums) and Carlos Rey (bass).

Across Permanent Maintenance Joudy leaves little room for nuanced interpretation on these songs that recount a relationship on the brink. Lines like “do what you’re gonna do, come, I’m not fucking scared” (“Bow”) or “we are in perfect danger” (“Three Dollar Bill”) drip with unfiltered sentiment and seethe on top of the gritty hooks that pack the record.

Joudy have always tried to make sense of “this messy universe,” and while the wide angle lens fantasies of their previous albums sought to do that through grand expositions, Permanent Maintenance brings the narrative down to that most acute of human experiences, to love and to lose.

“Pain is a fine knife sharpened by love,” Ramirez concludes with emotional clarity on the band’s most vital, intense, era yet.

After performing at SXSW back in March, and playing a string of shows across the state of Florida, Joudy are now out on their album release tour. Kicking things off with a hometown album release show at TV Eye in Brooklyn earlier this week, Dead Tooth, Desert Sharks and Dawglet joined the band for a celebratory night See all upcoming tour dates here and below.

UPCOMING TOUR DATES

July 24 – Pawtucket, RI – News Cafe (w/ Ghosts in the Snow, People Eating Plastic)

July 25 – Medford, MA – Deep Cuts (w/ Baabes, Capo Regime, Parachute Club)

July 26 – New Haven, CT – Cafe Nine (w/ Qween Kong, Death Valley Sun Troopers, Egg!)

July 30 – Asbury Park, NJ – Bond St Basement (w/ Sunshine Spazz, 37 Houses, Child Eater)

July 31 – Washington, DC – Simple Underground (w/ Knave, Toro)

August 1 – Philadelphia, PA – Nikki Lopez (w/ The Stone Eye, Rope Trick, Hot Manana)

Ahead of the album’s release, Joudy released official videos for each single, creating a dark, cinematic world to pair with the album. For “Nail” the band is urgently fleeing the scene in a car chase. “(I Love You) Dummy” is an isolated, moody performance. The video for “Three Dollar Bill” is a surreal karaoke-comedy fever dream. It sets the dial somewhere between public access TV, late-night hallucinations, and a dive bar singalong. And in the most recently released video for “Hammer,” the whiplash of touring and living on the road is given a visual.

PERMANENT MAINTENANCE TRACKLIST

“Hammer” — Watch

“Queen”

“Nail” — Watch

“Three Dollar Bill” — Watch

“Whiskas”

“(I Love You) Dummy” — Watch

“Bow”

“Swans”

“Shovel”

“Dear”

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