New York-based Emily MacMahon and Sam Novotny are the names behind Colorjoy, a vibrant upcoming duo taking the alt-pop music scene by storm. With inspiration from various genres and artists, from Hippo Campus and Paramore to Harry Styles, they built their own debut album, Golden Age, released last May, proving that you can create quality music without shelling out big dollars.
The duo orchestrated and played every instrument on the project, putting together an in-home studio to record, mix, and master the entire album on their own. Here, we sat down with them to get insights into their creative process and next career steps.
Listen to the album…
Read the full interview…
Hey Emily and Sam! Where are we chatting to you from?
Hey there! We’re based in the wonderful New York City
How did you each find your love for music?
Both of us were raised in a household where music was all around us. Emily’s grandmother even sang at Carnegie Hall. Our parents are musicians and it’s just always been a part of our DNA.
Who or what were your early musical influences?
Who doesn’t love the Beatles if you want to go way back… but we also really enjoy Paramore, Harry Styles and Hippocampus. We’ve really taken inspiration from all of them.
Can you tell us about how you first joined forces and created Colorjoy?
We’ve been playing together, and various bands and music programs, since we were in middle school. Our personalities and goals have always meshed so our friendship and then Colorjoy just evolved.
How would you describe your sound?
We are a vibrant alt-pop sound.
What was the journey leading up to your debut album like? When did you start working on Golden Age?
We had been playing in bands together for five or six years. We wrote and released an album (DNR) with the band ScreenAge back in 2021, and eventually decided to refine our sound into more Vibrant Alt Pop and formed Colorjoy in 2022.
You recorded and produced the entire album yourselves, right? What was that process like?
We have to be honest — it was a blast! We both play multiple instruments, so it was really nice being able to control the creative narrative and really work to get the sound to the way we wanted it. If you saw a picture of our homemade vocal booth, you would laugh, but it got the job done and the album sounds great.
How does it introduce us to Colorjoy?
It gives a good introduction to our sound and writing style. We had a lot of experience writing together before, so to us it’s a representation of our growth as musicians.
Do either of you have a favourite song? Was there one that was hardest to write?
Some of our favourite songs were the ones that came most naturally to us, so they weren’t necessarily the hardest to write. Missing Trains is a song that definitely took more work than some of the others, but that work paid off with how the song sounds now.
What’s next for Colorjoy?
We are playing a ton of local shows and working to get our music sync licensed. New songs are always in the works. Everyone will just have to wait and see!