History Music / JoyElectric

* GenreAdultery: The album ''Unelectric'' featured Ronnie performing prior songs with acoustic instruments. ''The Tick Tock Companion'' EP sees Ronnie abandon pop for Music/TangerineDream-style abstract jamming.

* ChristianRock / NotChristianRock: While Joy Electric's lyrics are mostly abstract with few obvious references to Christianity, he's always been upfront about his faith in interviews, and he wrote the album ''[=CHRISTIANsongs=]'' specifically so people would stop asking, "So, is Joy Electric a Christian band?" Ronnie himself is also worship arts pastor.

* MoodWhiplash: Ensues whenever JE's TastesLikeDiabetes and TrueArtIsAngsty tendencies share album space.

** "Sweet Sweet Charity" first appeared on ''Rainbow Rider'', then was rerecorded for ''Melody''.

JE's origins lay in an early-90s collaboration between Ronnie and his brother Jason, which bounced between rock and techno and cycled through names like 2 Ladds and Morella's Forest before signing to the fledgling Blonde Vinyl Records as Dance House Children. Jason left to [[StartMyOwn start his own]] [[Music/Starflyer59 rock band]], and Ronnie shifted from rave music to pop, changing the name of the project to signal the transition (and moving to Tooth & Nail Records after Blonde Vinyl died).

In 2010, Ronnie moved to Ohio, got a day job as a worship arts pastor, and then became the pastor of another church. At the time, he had big plans for his music: to retool Joy Electric as a poppier band (and start using chords again), while simultaneously delving further into the sounds of early electronic music under the new moniker Said Fantasy. Unfortunately for music fans, Ronnie's responsibilities as a pastor have prevented him from devoting as much time to new music. The first album of the new sound, 2012's ''Dwarf Mountain Alphabet'', might also be the last Joy Electric album, ever. And Said Fantasy's first album was scheduled for "early 2014", but didn't actually see the light of day until 2017. It's unknown when (or even if) he'll make any more music.

* BandOfRelatives: Ronnie's wife played some on the album ''Favorites at Play''. Dance House Children and The Brothers Martin featured Ronnie's brother Jason. Said Fantasy features his daughter Beth.

* BookEnds: ''The Tick Tock Treasury'' opens with the title track, and ends with "Tick Tock Goes the Melody", which is an instrumental reprise of the song.

** Similarly, "Sheffield Youth" was a tribute to the electronic bands from the Sheffield scene of the late '70s (the liner notes specifically mentioned Music/TheHumanLeague and Music/{{OMD}}).

* ConceptAlbum: ''The White Songbook'', ''The Tick Tock Treasury'', ''Hello, Mannequin'', ''The Ministry of Archers'', and ''The Otherly Opus'' were supposed to be parts of what Ronnie called The Legacy Series. The themes of some of these made sense on their own: ''Tick Tock'' [[AllThereInTheManual had a story in the liner notes]] about a fantasy kingdom under attack. ''Mannequin'' was about the dark side of both fame and friendship. The second half of ''Opus'' was about [[Literature/TheBible the book of Genesis]], between the Fall and the Flood. But ''Songbook'' and ''Archers'' were impenetrable, and no one besides Ronnie knows how the five albums are supposed to be connected.

* BreakupBreakout: JE has yet to achieve mainstream popularity, but it's definitely better known than Dance House Children ever was.

Joy Electric continued changing, minimizing their sound in pursuit of Ronnie's ideals of analog musical purity. ''We Are the Music Makers'' and subsequent albums saw Ronnie performing solely on monosynthesizers and analog sequencers. ''The White Songbook'' and subsequent albums saw Ronnie stripping the sound down even further, recording entire albums on a single synthesizer (initially a Roland System 100, later a Moog Voyager). The instruments may have been minimal, but the music wasn't: ''The White Songbook'' in particular featured JE's densest instrumental arrangements, and ''The Otherly Opus'' went crazy with vocal arrangements.

** A lot of the [=EPs=] feature remixes of songs from the just-released album. In particular, ''Their Variables'' has remixes of every single track from ''The Otherly Opus''.

** Similarly, "Sheffield Youth" was a tribute to the electronic bands from the Sheffield scene of the late '70s (the liner notes specifically mentioned The Human League and OMD).

JE's origins lay in an early-90s collaboration between Ronnie and his brother Jason, which bounced between rock and techno and cycled through names like 2 Ladds and Morella's Forest before signing to the fledgling Blonde Vinyl Records as Dance House Children. Jason left to [[StartMyOwn start his own]] [[{{Starflyer59}} rock band]], and Ronnie shifted from rave music to pop, changing the name of the project to signal the transition (and moving to Tooth & Nail Records after Blonde Vinyl died).

* The Brothers Martin: ''The Brothers Martin'' (2007) A mix of modern rock, new wave, and synth-pop. Ronnie's first collaboration with [[{{Starflyer 59}} Jason Martin]] since the Dance House Children days.

** On the back cover of ''Rainbow Rider: Beautiful Dazzling Music No. 1'', there's a photo of Ronnie with vinyl records by Ronnie's musical heroes DanielAmos and 4-4-1 clearly visible in the background. The liner notes have a rambling essay that says (among other things) "Music/TheSmiths are the best band that ever lived".

In 2010, Ronnie moved to Ohio, got a day job as a worship arts pastor, and then became the pastor of another church. At the time, he had big plans for his music: to retool Joy Electric as a poppier band (and start using chords again), while simultaneously delving further into the sounds of early electronic music under the new moniker Said Fantasy. Unfortunately for music fans, Ronnie's responsibilities as a pastor have prevented him from devoting as much time to new music. The first album of the new sound, 2012's ''Dwarf Mountain Alphabet'', might also be the last Joy Electric album, ever. And Said Fantasy's first album was scheduled for "early 2014", but remains unreleased as of 2015.

Joy Electric continued changing, minimizing their sound in pursuit of Ronnie's ideals of analog musical purity. ''We Are the Music Makers'' and subsequent albums saw Ronnie performing solely on monosynthesizers and analog sequencers. ''The White Songbook'' and subsequent albums saw Ronnie stripping the sound down even further, recording entire albums on a single synthesizer (initially a Roland System 100, later a Moog Voyager). The instruments may have been minimal, but the music wasn't (''The White Songbook'' in particular featured JE's densest instrumental arrangements, and ''The Otherly Opus'' went crazy with vocal arrangements.)

In 2010, Ronnie moved to Ohio, got a day job as a worship arts pastor, and started a new synthpop project (with his daughter, Beth) called Said Fantasy. According to statements in interviews and on his official forum, Ronnie's plan is to split his two songwriting focuses between both projects: Said Fantasy will be his outlet for songs influenced by early electronic music, while Joy Electric will focus on pop and will (for the first time in years) feature extensive use of polyphony.

In 2011, Ronnie left Tooth & Nail records. ''Dwarf Mountain Alphabet'', the first album of JE's planned new sound, was released the following year. Said Fantasy's first album is scheduled to come out "early 2014".

* BlackSheepHit: "Sugar Rush" and "Drum Machine Joy" (the latter of which is HilariousInHindsight, considering Ronnie's refusal to use drum machines in almost all his albums since[[note]]''Hello, Mannequin'' is the one exception; he used a Roland CR-78[[/note]].)

* OldShame: Ronnie consistently cites ''We Are the Music Makers'' as his least favorite album. He feels that, underneath the new production techniques, the songs themselves were subpar.

* ReclusiveArtist

* SurrealMusicVideo: "Burgundy Years", "Monosynth", "Children of the Lord", and "Red Will Dye These Snows of Silver".

* UnpluggedVersion: Half-heartedly done on ''Unelectric'', which covers his prior Synth Pop songs on acoustic guitar, but the arrangements are still backed by stripped down synths and drum machines.

* AnimeHair: Ronnie's weird 'do (with one patch of hair spiked straight up, and the rest of his hair carefully combed down) in the photos for ''[=CHRISTIAN=]songs''.

In 2011, Ronnie left Tooth & Nail records. ''Dwarf Mountain Alphabet'', the first album of JE's planned new sound, was released the following year.

** "The Good Will Not Be Cloned (or, Why Should Christians Get All the Bad Music?)" knocks Christian musicians who deliberately try to be TheMoralSubstitute for mainstream bands, as well as the industry that encourages these musicians.

* [[PerishingAltRockVoice Perishing Synth Pop Voice]]: Most evident on "Write Your Last Paragraph" and the entirety of ''My Grandfather, the Cubist''.
* RearrangeTheSong: A lot of the [=EPs=] feature remixes of songs from the just-released album. In particular, ''Their Variables'' has remixes of every single track from ''The Otherly Opus''. "Sing Once for Me" (from ''The White Songbook'') gets rerecorded as a lighter, poppier tune on ''Dwarf Mountain Alphabet''.

* BlackSheepHit: "Sugar Rush" and "Drum Machine Joy" (the latter of which is HilariousInHindsight, considering Ronnie's refusal to use drum machines in almost all his albums since[[hottip:*:''Hello, Mannequin'' is the one exception; he used a Roland CR-78]].)