Three years of silence broke with a whisper, however “Love You Much less“ arrives as a roar cloaked in reverb. Launched on 2 January 2026 because the fourth single from his upcoming album Piss In The Wind (dropping 6 February), Joji trades his customary lo-fi melancholy for one thing altogether extra visceral: a shoegaze-drenched meditation on the psychological warfare of unbalanced love.
What we witness right here isn’t merely a stylistic departure however an entire sonic exorcism, one which sees the Japanese-Australian artist lastly getting into the guitar-driven territory his stay exhibits have lengthy hinted at.
Producers Ricky Reed and Nate Mercereau have constructed one thing genuinely particular right here: a wall of sound that sits someplace between Cocteau Twins‘ ethereal haze and the dense, guitar-saturated textures of Slowdive‘s Souvlaki.
The observe opens with distorted guitar shimmer, layers of suggestions fastidiously managed to create environment slightly than aggression. That is shoegaze executed with restraint, the place each reverb tail serves the emotional narrative.
Joji’s vocals float via the combo like smoke, his signature low register taking up new which means when suspended over such a dense instrumental mattress.
The place earlier singles like “Glimpse of Us“ relied on piano and area, “Love You Much less” buries his voice in texture, making each phrase really feel prefer it’s combating via static to achieve you.
The impact is claustrophobic in the absolute best method: you’re feeling the burden of the tune’s emotional baggage urgent down with every verse.
The manufacturing decisions higlight a deliberate roughness to the combo, guitar tones that grate slightly than soothe, drums that punch via at sudden moments.
Its undoubtedly not background music with how the main points co-exist, from the way in which the bass line mirrors the vocal melody within the pre-chorus, how the guitars drop out virtually fully for that charming hook.
“If I really like you much less, will you’re keen on me extra?” The central query of “Love You Much less” cuts straight to the bone of poisonous attachment concept.
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Joji dissects a relationship the place affection turns into foreign money, the place withdrawal triggers pursuit, and presence breeds indifference.
That is the push-pull dynamic many people recognise however not often articulate so plainly.
The primary verse lays out the asymmetry: “Hold gettin’ much less of you / Once I provide the better of me / Possibly my love is simply an excessive amount of.”
Right here’s somebody who has carried out the calculations, who understands they’re working in a system rigged towards real feeling. The extra he invests, the much less he receives in return. The merciless arithmetic of emotional unavailability.
By the second verse, the sample sharpens: “Wastin’ my breath / ‘Trigger you prefer it higher when there’s none left / Once I’m not in your mattress / Solely time you need me there.”
The tune catalogues the indicators anybody caught on this cycle is aware of intimately: the associate who solely calls while you’ve stopped calling them, who finds you fascinating exactly while you’re strolling away, who errors your absence for worth slightly than recognising your presence as reward.
What makes the lyrics significantly efficient is their refusal to moralise. Joji doesn’t place himself as sufferer or villain.
He merely observes the mechanics of dysfunction with the weary readability of somebody who is aware of they need to go away however can’t fairly handle it. “Once I’m prepared, you’re not prepared” turns into a mantra, a cycle with no exit.
The refrain serves as each query and accusation: “I’m obsessed, you’re undecided / If I really like you much less, will you’re keen on me extra? / I pull again, you come ahead.”
He’s naming the sport while nonetheless enjoying it, conscious of the manipulation however unable (or unwilling) to step exterior the sample. It’s the sound of somebody who has learn all of the self-help books and nonetheless texts again at 3am.
The transfer to stay instrumentation feels vital. Since touring with a full band, Joji has spoken about desirous to seize that uncooked, guitar-heavy power on file.
Right here, he achieves it with out sacrificing the intimacy that made tracks like “Die For You“ emotional. The tune works as a result of it marries the stadium-ready dynamics of different rock with the confessional vulnerability of bed room pop.
It’s value noting the comparisons to Djo’s “Finish of Starting” which have circulated on-line for the reason that tune’s launch.
Sure, each tracks make use of comparable chord progressions and share that dreamy, nostalgic high quality. However the place Djo’s tune feels optimistic, a looking-forward-by-looking-back, “Love You Much less” sits squarely within the current tense of struggling. It’s not retrospective; it’s taking place now, visceral and unresolved.
“Love You Much less” is devoid of that second of readability the place Joji walks away from the poisonous dynamic he’s described.
The tune merely ends with the query nonetheless hanging: will loving much less make you’re keen on me extra? We by no means get the reply as a result of Joji is aware of there isn’t one. These patterns don’t resolve; they repeat till somebody finds the energy to cease enjoying.
Sonically, this represents Joji at his most adventurous. The shoegaze influences mirror the lyrical content material: each create stunning issues from noise and distortion, discovering melody within the midst of chaos.
If Piss In The Wind delivers extra of this sonic adventurousness paired with Joji’s reward for emotional precision, we’re what might be his most artistically profitable mission but.
For now, “Love You Much less” stands as proof that Joji has developed past the lo-fi unhappy boy archetype that launched his profession.
He’s not abandoning vulnerability; he’s amplifying it, turning up the amount till his quiet confessions change into sonic cathedrals of feeling. It’s messy, it’s stunning, and it hurts in all of the methods nice heartbreak songs ought to.
