Joyer has called much of the Northeast corridor home. Since starting the shoegaze duo in 2017, brothers Nick and Shane Sullivan have lived in New Jersey, Brooklyn, Boston and Philadelphia. To keep it simple, they say it’s an “East Coast” band.
Their fifth and most recent album, “On the Other End of the Line…,” released in October on Julia’s War Recordings, represents a shift from their slowcore origins toward a more jangly “countrygaze” sound.
Joyer returns to Greater Boston to headline Saturday at Someday Fest at Warehouse XI (June 6-7, Somerville).
Nick and Shane spoke with The Independent ahead of their performance.
Whose idea was it to start Joyer?
Nick: It was both of ours. I faded away from my last band, so I was left with the hunger of wanting to be in a band.
Shane: No one in our town was that interested in music, so there wasn’t anyone else to play with. We kind of did it out of necessity.
Boston, New York and Philadelphia each have their own unique music scenes. What inspirations do you take from each?
Nick: We’ve been molded by all the cities we’ve been a part of. I think of Boston as more indie rock and New York being more shoegaze, and I think we fall somewhere in between those.
“Perfect Gray,” your third album, is just about the slowest of slowcore music, while your last album, “On the Other End of the Line …,” is much lighter. What caused that shift?
Shane: It keeps it more fun and interesting for us to not be bogged down by a particular style.
Nick: We’re not as angsty as we were when we made “Perfect Gray.” As shy people, it was a lot easier to do the slow, understated thing, and it reflected who we were back then. But now, we have a lot more confidence to be expressive in our songwriting.
What caused you to come out of your shells?
Nick: Experience. We’ve toured all over the country, played a lot more shows. When Joyer started, those were the first songs we ever wrote. If you go through everything, you’re watching us learn how to make music in real time.
Shane, you lived in Boston for a while. Is playing Someday Fest a bit of a homecoming?
Shane: Yeah, it’s always special coming back. I went to Emerson and stuck around for three years after college, but I’ve only been back once since I moved away. What I really like about the Boston music scene is it feels very community-oriented. Everyone really knows each other and supports each other.
You’ve said you like trying local restaurants when you tour. Where are you most looking forward to going back to?
Nick: We were formally invited to go to Machu Picchu. Our old drummer is Peruvian, and we bonded over going to that restaurant.
Shane: I like that there’s several local burrito chains that are like Chipotle but it’s obviously so much better than Chipotle. Felipe’s in Harvard Square, that place is great. There’s this great diner in Watertown called Deluxe Town Diner. Those big breakfast plates take you out for the whole day.
Maybe don’t get that right before your set.
Shane: That’ll be a celebratory breakfast.
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