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Folk, fingerstyle guitar, singer-songwriter, Louisville.

he title of Joan Shelley‘s latest album, Real Warmth, has a focused, thematic, and overriding relevance that threads through every song on the album. However, before I discuss those ideas, I should also note the genuine warmth that pervades this album. It stands apart from Joan’s previous releases, all of which are wonderful, and indeed some are essential examples of the fine art of songwriting and performance. However, something more is emerging here—a record with clearly visible fingerprints and vividly detectable traces of a human hand. Where past recordings are gleaming vignettes of audio perfection and intimacy, this new sound has a hint of urgency and a certain looseness to the playing. This was actually the intention too; when Joan set about recording this new music, she sought out a remote Toronto location in the snowy depths of winter and ensured her musician buddies were locked into a fully focused, musical, and collaborative endeavour. Nathan Salsburg, Ben Whiteley, Matt Kelley, Karen Ng, Philippe Melanson, Doug Paisley, Tamara Lindeman, Ken Whiteley, and Talya Bloom Salsburg are all well-bonded as regular touring and playing musicians within the Toronto music community; tapping into that familiarity has proved to be the masterstroke on ‘Real Warmth’.

But what of the impressions that Joan herself wanted to put across on a release with this title? She was thinking about three separate yet complementary reflections. Firstly, there is the warmth of human connection, that body temperature electricity that so often gets lost in a world of online interaction. Next, there is the sense of a universal, humane heartbeat that she sees corrupted by the real divisions inflicted on countries and communities the world over. She questions how people can impose hurt and suffering on another being with the brutality they would instinctively protect their own loved ones from. And then, thirdly, there is the literal warmth of the planet we all live on, and the emergency surrounding it, as deniers thwart and undermine efforts to adapt the world towards a greener direction. All of these concerns are absolutely bleeding out of these grooves, and there is no doubt that Joan is as anxious as anyone about the times we live in, leaning on her music for expression and a font for healing. It does just that and more, for these sounds do have a reassuring quality, an American folk beauty that reminds us of the natural wonders we can birth even in trying times. As Shelley herself admits, these songs are a “stab at some kind of cocktail for resilience, a recipe for desperate times. This from a mother, but also just a person inclined to feel for the faint pulse and strengthen it, to contribute something beautiful in the face of a hostile world.”

The album is strong from beginning to end, and it has really captured the feel and temperature of the sessions from which it is formed. New Anthem sounds like the aching, probing that Ray LaMontagne embarks on—a lightning rod sinking itself into a soft bed of raw emotion, presented with shimmering, sliding guitar ripples beside attentive, responsive percussion. It does the simple things so well and refrains from any temptation to deviate, proving that the act of just singing what you are feeling and allowing the sounds and colours arising out of that expression to lead direction is sometimes all you need to land a wonderful song. Here In The High And Low is an instant winner, blowing onto the listener’s face like a fresh wind busting through a sky of damp and humidity. Joan still plays to her strengths; on top of a dozen strong new compositions, her lead singing commands centre stage too, Everybody being an exceptionally robust example of this. Adventure among the players is audible too, such as on Wooden Boat, wherein most of the second half of the playing time is an instrumental coda sailing into bouncing seas of defiant revival, like a chorus of ancient wind-up toys has burst back into life to play the nearest abandoned string and wind instruments. Ever Entwine propels itself atop an insistent weaving of twiddly acoustic guitar and restless rhythm, and by the time the album closes on Who Do You Want Checking In On You, one of many exuding a timeless, classically crafted essence, it is hard to shake the feeling that ‘Real Warmth’ is the finest offering from Joan Shelley’s esteemed career so far.

Tracks:
01. Here in the High and Low
02. On the Gold and Silver
03. Field Guide to Wild Life
04. Wooden Boat
05. For When You Can't Sleep
06. Everybody
07. New Anthem
08. Heaven Knows
09. Ever Entwine
10. Give It Up, It's Too Much
11. The Orchard
12. Who Do You Want Checking in on You
13. The Hum

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster. Laat af en toe eens weten wat je van het album vindt. Altijd leuk, de mening van anderen. Oh ja, MP3 doe ik niet aan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o01P-VzCU4k&t=1s