Joy Moonflower is the moniker of Joy Steyn (born 23 December, 1991 as Jessica Steyn), a self-taught musician residing in Pretoria, South Africa. Joy sings and plays guitar alone but began her foray into musicianship by playing upright bass and singing in an old two-piece blues band. Her distinct, idiosyncratic singing has garnered comparisons to the likes of Joanna Newsom and Regina Spektor. However, her musical style is pervaded by simple guitar rhythms, unpredictable chord progressions and vocal acrobatics. A large portion of Joy's songs are improvised and lyrics are usually made up spontaneously - often only the basic chords and chorus lines are thought up beforehand. Thus her shows are usually marked by spontaneity, the musical direction depending a lot on they way she feels at the time. Feeling estranged and uncomfortable with the system, Joy left school at the early age of 16 to pursue and study a myriad of interests ranging from Fine Arts and Theatrical Make-up to Hairdressing and even Photography. However, in 2011 she finally found her calling and decided to expand her musical talent. She cites her contemporary influences as Fever Ray, The Books, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Moldy Peaches, Deerhoof and The Cranberries.