Articles · Photos · Promotional · Reviews · Tour · Miscellaneous

1994 June 17: Entertainment Weekly

The Pendulum Vibe

Reviewed by David Browne

Grade: A

Joi The Pendulum Vibe (Limp/EMI/ ERG) Psychedelic dance music? Hip-hop cabaret? Acid-jazz pop? The startling debut of 23-year-old Atlantan Joi Gilliam is all of the above, and more. Joi's sweet, elastic voice wraps itself up and around spacey pop that exists in a universe all its own, from a cappella chants to ballads that Janet Jackson and Anita Baker should mud- wrestle over. The singer is as enigmatic and ear-grabbing as her music; she mourns a lost man one moment and wonders the next why she's so attracted to another woman. Joi leaves you scratching your head, but she fills it with beatific sounds along the way.