That's Joy Orbison.
"I do like clubbing," he says, "but the sort of culture I was a part of was going to clubs and just standing around in the corner, listening to the tunes. It was pretty nerdy, so you could go on your own. Ironically, I actually really struggle in crowds."
This makes sense when you listen to his music. The London-based producer, born Peter O'Grady, crafts eloquent and moody house music steeped in brooding bass and infectious rhythms. It is danceable and fits well in club settings and festival lineups — including at III Points, where Joy Orbison is set to play Saturday evening — but it's also tinged with an intimate sense of self-reflection and emotional exposition.
The Joy Orbison sound has always been highly developed. From his 2009 debut release, "Hyph Mngo," to his 2021 long-form mixtape Still Slipping Vol. 1, which samples recordings of his family members talking throughout, there exists a clear line of sonic truths and personal perspectives. Much of it sounds like it was made alone in a dark room, with lots of attention to texture, feeling, technique, and honesty.
"My dad's got really good music taste, but he's not someone who would wear it on his sleeve," O'Grady says. "When I was born, he was playing a lot of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. He's a big fan of Kate Bush and Björk. My music is rooted in that. Even growing up with jungle and drum 'n' bass, that's all born out of people who were into rare groove, funk, and soul. That music gets really nasty and dark, which I love, but it's always held together by a kind of jazz or soul, even at its most gnarly and technical. That's a carry-through to probably everything I've done, I'd like to think."
Actually, he's been thinking very deeply about all that recently, and what seemingly disparate parts of his taste come together to synthesize his personal style. Maybe it's partly because he turned 37 a few weeks ago or perhaps it's because he recently released a package of his earliest productions in the form of the Archive 09-10 EP. Well, okay, it's not because of that last part."I don't need to be out every week to know what I think is relevant dance music to me."
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"I never really wanted to [release those songs]," he says, laughing, "but I've actually got so much to come, and I think that is why I felt confident doing it. I wouldn't have felt confident doing it if I didn't have a lot on the way because I'm always a bit wary of looking back."
Still, he's extremely interested in exhuming his backlog of beloved musical influences, much more so than keeping up to date with the latest dance-floor hits.
"I don't need to be out every week to know what I think is relevant dance music to me," he says. "There's a lot of music out there, so I don't think it's necessary to hear it all. I think it's being able to have a broader understanding of it and then viewing, 'What do I feel is missing from me personally?' and 'What can I add?' It's a fine line between being inspired and staying relevant. At a point, you can't always be a fan. You've got to be able to be like, 'Well, who am I in this?' and keep developing yourself."
"It's very self-indulgent," he continues, "but it's quite interesting to delve into — almost researching your own interests and your own tastes, and what is the interesting bits of that. I quite like playing around with that, and a lot of the music I'm working on at the moment is trying to make sense of all my different interests musically."
With his eyes fully fixed on the future, he is doing something to resurrect the past. His club night, "Just For You," has made a home in London's storied venue Fabric. It's a free-entry night with no announced lineup, built around the idea that you should just come and listen to the music with a fair and unbiased mind no matter who the DJ is, big name or small, kind of like those nerdy club nights where O'Grady got his musical start.
"You would hear artists play predominantly unreleased music or very new music, and that was so inspiring. You'd come away from it and be like, 'Fuck, yeah, I want to write more,' and you felt like there was a bit of support there. "Just For You" is about trying to push something really new, pushing the scene forward."
Fans can trust that that ethos will come out in full force during his III Points performance.
"You can survive as a DJ being a part of lineups for a long time, and sometimes those lineups aren't stylistically where you're at," he adds. "I did that a lot in America, and I started to become a bit cautious [about fitting a vibe]. Now I'm like, this is going to be me for however long I'm playing. Whoever goes on either side of this, it's not my place [to worry about]. That's up to them — which is a really long-winded way of saying, 'I'm gonna play a shitload of dubplates.'"
III Points 2023. Friday, October 20, and Saturday, October 21, at Mana Wynwood, 2217 NW Fifth Ave., Miami; iiipoints.com. Tickets cost $169 to $599 iiipoints.frontgatetickets.com.
