Vance Joy
Vance Joy is the stage name of James Keogh, a Melbourne singer-songwriter and former Australian rules footballer who borrowed the moniker from a minor character in Peter Carey's novel 'Bliss.' He broke through worldwide in 2013 with 'Riptide,' a ukulele-driven earworm that became the longest-charting single in ARIA history and anchored his 2014 debut album 'Dream Your Life Away.' His music sits squarely in the 2010s indie-folk revival: warm acoustic strumming, plainspoken and image-heavy lyrics, and big, unguarded sing-along hooks.
Joy has named Bob Dylan among his major influences, and the debt is audible in his songwriting: unhurried acoustic strumming under long, image-dense verses that pile up remembered characters and small details rather than chase a tidy narrative, delivered in a plain, slightly frayed voice.
listen forPut on Dylan's fingerpicked 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right' and then 'Mess Is Mine' — hear how both let a loose, circling acoustic figure carry a rueful, talky vocal that turns leaving and staying over and over without ever snapping to a neat resolution.
Joy counts Paul Simon among the songwriters he grew up on, and you can hear it in the bright, rhythmic acoustic guitar figures and neatly turned melodic hooks that carry his most upbeat songs — pop craftsmanship built on a folk instrument.
listen forPlay Simon's springy, percussive 'Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard' next to 'Saturday Sun' — notice how both ride a bouncing, syncopated acoustic strum and a sing-along melodic lift that make an essentially folk arrangement feel like sunlit pop.
Joy lists Bon Iver among his influences, and the mark shows in his more atmospheric, emotionally exposed material — hushed, reverbed acoustic textures and layered, aching vocal harmonies used to build intimacy rather than volume.
listen forCue Bon Iver's spare, falsetto-driven 'Skinny Love' and then 'Fire and the Flood' — both begin close and quiet and swell through stacked backing vocals into something wide and yearning, letting the harmony carry the emotional weight.