Joviale shares new single/video, “Let Me Down”. Debut album, Mount Crystal,

“I’m not afraid to let you go, I dare you to let me down”

London-based multidisciplinary artist Joviale today releases the new single, “Let Me Down”, the third reveal from their debut full-length album, Mount Crystal, due September 12 2025 via Ghostly International. Pre-order/pre-save here.

On “Let Me Down”, Joviale jokingly riffed off the idea of embodying an opera diva for a minute, allowing themself an uncharacteristic rush of jealousy, pride and anger. Speaking of the track, Joviale said: “Desire can turn when pride becomes involved.”

“Let Me Down” follows the release of the album’s debut single, “Moonshine”, which built to rhythmic bliss with James Mollison of Ezra Collective on saxophone, and previewed an electric, soulful, and jazzy new direction for Joviale, as well as “HARK!”, a cross of sinister funk and serene majesty that leaned into an evil groove during its recording, where Michael Jackson’s Thrillerwas a studio playlist staple.

Listen to the new single, “Let Me Down” here and watch the visualiser below, directed by Evan Mason.

Co-produced by Joviale with John Carroll Kirby and Jkarri, Mount Crystal, is an ascendant, conceptual album. The songs are electric and soulful, dashed with jazzy experimentation, rhythmic rock, and vibrant sound design, all realised with a cast of collaborators including Sam Wilkes, Carter Lang, and Will Miller. Initially imagined as a play, Mount Crystal brims and bursts with life – peril, humour, and the buzz of the human spirit – conjuring a metaphysical climb that transcends the audio format. With plans to further manifest the vision as a live set and more, Joviale sets the course:

“Mount Crystal’s lore is driven by the embodiment of desire, danger, and desperation. A mirrored dimension in a distant reality where nothing is left unsaid. These chapters crave to tear apart the illusion of pleasure by alchemising the unrelenting pain I’ve experienced in my efforts to love, deny, and embrace the sweetest melodies with the sweetest friends.”

Inspired by the comedic musical mastery of Prince’s 1986 film Under the Cherry Moon and the offbeat surrealism of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, Jovialefirst saw Mount Crystal as a murder mystery, hypothetically casting each collaborator as a character in the story. Co-producer John Carroll Kirby (Steve Lacy, Frank Ocean, Solange, Kacey Musgraves) became the American cop investigator tracking a series of murders in a strange British hotel. Joviale and contributors Fabiana Palladino and Laura Groves are entertainers at the hotel; co-producer Joshua Gaskin-Brown, aka Jkarri (PinkPantheress, Nia Archives, Bel Cobain, Natanya), is the resident handyman always at work in the periphery, and so on. The loose framework immediately set a relaxed, anything-goes mentality to recording sessions spread over various makeshift studio set-ups, including Joviale’s living room during a month-long stay in Barcelona. “We all have one thing in common, which is that we love to jam as musicians and love to have a stupid time and we will work from each other’s houses,” says Joviale. “In this trio with John and Joshua, I felt very much in the lead; they’d be like, ‘we get it,’ and that’s because we were able to jam through it.”

Joviale’s personality reverberates across Mount Crystal’s densely detailed world. They speak with swagger and sing skyward, cutting through rubbery basslines and angular strums, synthesised horns and harps, unruly beats, and unusual sound bites. The antithesis of background music, these songs leap from headphones much like an engrossing movie makes itself known on screen. Joviale’s sonic references span Sade, Kate Bush, Janet Jackson, Todd Rundgren, ‘60s girl groups, Japanese composers, and “the freaky guys and girls and the divas of the ‘80s… glamorous rock’n’roll, Rick James, Prince, Quincy.” Artists who prioritised playful ambition and bravado.

While set up as fictional abstractions, songs also reflect Joviale’s lived-in experiences: broken-hearted letdowns, realisations, and the search for clarity and truth. Sequencing arcs upward and back down as if scaling its namesake. Lyrics detail dynamics between the self and others.

Beyond metaphorical mountains and murder mysteries, Joviale’s debut album is a statement of artistic identity and purpose. A work that speaks to patience and collaborative ethos, surrendering oneself to music-making, and letting the process lead you somewhere new. Mount Crystal reveals itself as the pop record it’s been reaching for. “We have come a long way,” Joviale sings on the hand-clapped “Wishing”  — a second voice responds, “I go where I need to go” — and in that moment, in accord with their crew, Joviale confirms acceptance and the lesson learned, that life keeps going.

Joviale has announced a London headline show at Oslo in Hackney on 25September. They will also be performing a run of instores across the UK this September, and touring with Nourished By Time in the UK/EU in November with a London show at Electric Brixton on 20 November.

Live dates and instores are as follows:

UK Instore dates:
Sept 17 – Jacaranda Club, Liverpool
Sept 18 – Vinyl Whistle, Leeds
Sept 19 – Truck, Oxford
Sept 23 – Rough Trade Bristol

Headline shows:
Sept 25 – Oslo, London

Live dates with Nourished By Time:
Nov 13 – Berlin, Germany – Säälchen
Nov 15 – Utrecht, Netherlands – EKKO
Nov 16 – Antwerp, Belgium – Trix
Nov 17 – Paris, France – Petit Bain
Nov 19 – Bristol, UK – Lantern Hall
Nov 20 – London – Electric Brixton

1. The Mountain (intro)
2. Snow
3. Heavy
4. Crush
5. HARK!
6. Foul Play
7. Let Me Down
8. Moonshine
9. Both Ways
10. MC (intermission)
11. Beam
12. Blu
13. Disappear
14. Wishing