‘Paper and Pen’ is the second single Joyce Prescher releases this year, ahead of her album ‘Out of My Mind’ – an upbeat track that winks to the early 60s. A somewhat different sound to her single ‘Sleep Now’ released in March, yet still unmistakably Joyce with the vocal layers ever present in her music. The strong presence of percussion and electric guitar in the track make the listener want to sway their hips and provide a nice contrast to the melancholy in Joyce’s lyrics.

With her carefully crafted lyrics, haunting melodies, beautiful fingerpicking, and rich velvety vocals – with subtle accenting reminiscent of artists like Ane Brun or even the Swedish duo First Aid Kit  –  Dutch-born Joyce Prescher has slowly but steadily been making a name for herself on the Melbourne and national Americana and folk scene. Joyce’s music takes you back to days long gone, with its gentle nods to 70s artists like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Her words are delivered with honesty and melancholy; you cannot help but be roped in and left mesmerised.

‘Paper and Pen‘ was produced by Simon Moro of Ninety Nine 100 (Vance Joy, Lanie Lane, Archie Roach, Lisa Miller) and mastered by Adam Dempsey (Angie McMahon, Jordie Lane, Courtney Barnett). It features Daniel Farrugia on drums, Craig Newman on double bass and Jed Pickett on guitar and organ.

Originally from the Netherlands, Joyce Prescher moved to Melbourne over a decade ago. She met a man during a safari in Africa, and decided to follow him back to Australia, where she fell in love with Melbourne and its thriving music and art scene. She never really left after.

Joyce started singing from a very early age – according to her mother, “before she could talk”. Music was a big part of the family; there was always music playing and constant singing on road trips with four kids in the back of a tiny hatchback. Rumour has it she was conceived on ‘The dark side of the moon’, which could explain her love of Pink Floyd.

As children, Joyce and her siblings would write silly songs, and Joyce performed in local community events before the age of ten. In the first year of high school, she heard a boy play beautifully on a grand piano, and she sat with him and offered to sing along. He was quite taken by Joyce’s vocals; they became good friends and would occasionally write and perform together, as a duo or with a band.

Around this time, her mother would play guitar after the kids had gone to bed. Joyce would lie awake listening to her mum softly strumming. Frustrated that no one ever really played the songs she wanted to sing on guitar or piano, and dreaming of being a songwriter herself, at age 15 she decided to learn to play her mother’s guitar. In university, she formed her first band and started to combine her writing skills (she used to write short stories and lots of poems) with her love of music. She also improved her singing skills by joining a choir for a few years.

It took her a while to find her feet and her scene in Melbourne, but by 2013 she formed her first band in her new home. The band was short-lived, but the spark was re-ignited, and Joyce has been writing and performing regularly since.

Joyce released her debut album Home in 2017, which was praised by PBS and listed in their top 10 albums upon release.

In 2020 Joyce joined the line-up of a show called Keep the Circle Unbroken, curated by Delsinki. With the show she has performed at the Memo Music Hall, the 2022 Port Fairy Folk Festival and as part of their regional Victoria tour in 2021. She shared the stage with many Australian favourites, including Tim Rogers, Kylie Auldist, Mick Thomas, Debra Byrne, Sarah Carroll, Kerryn Fields and XANI. Joyce also features on the Keep the Circle Unbroken album, which was recorded live in July 2020 at the Memo Music Hall in St Kilda, between the two Melbourne lockdowns.

In November 2021 Joyce performed as part of three sold out shows paying tribute to the late Justin Townes Earle at the Brunswick Ballroom.

More recently, Joyce completed a tour as part of the Sing a Song of Sixpence line up, with artists including Abby Dobson, Freya Josephine Hollick, Charm of Finches, Van Walker, Grim Fawkner and more.