Released as a single last Autumn and one of the highlights of her May UK tour, Joanne Shaw Taylor’s new album, Heavy Soul, opens with a sure fire humdinger in ‘Sweet ‘Lil Lies’ – Dancing with a deliciously infectious guitar melody throughout, and over an incessant gentle but pounding rhythm section. Taylor delivers the verses in a resigned but assured manner, telling her lover she knows his game and now it’s over, moving into a soulful ‘60s styled chorus hook that just makes the whole affair even more contagious, and me in love with it. Her voice getting progressively rawer as her narrative mood changes to one of utter disgust, then giving way for an angry burst of guitar soloing and a great big smile on this listener’s face. Back in better days, this would have been on radios everywhere and a pop chart hit.
“It was the first song I wrote just for this new album” Taylor recalled. “I’d been messing around with the lead piano part and built the rest of the song around that melody. As soon as I had that main melody, ‘I got sweet little lies, all the time’ stuck in my head on a loop. It probably took me less than an hour to finish it; some songs work like that.”
With her previous album, Nobody’s Fool, Taylor’s creative career trajectory moved on considerably. She’d got the blues down pat, but since signing with Joe Bonamassa’s Journeyman Records it appears she’s now surrounded by people who have her and her music’s best interest in mind. That kindled with her really developing as a singer, and edging towards more old school rhythm ‘n’ blues tunes where the nuances of harmony and backing vocals often play as important a role as lead ones are making her songs that little more special.
Seasoned Stateside musicians – including Anton Fig (drums and percussion), Alison Presswood (bass) and Rob McNelley (guitar) are on board to help her deliver what’s a fusion of contemporary soul-pop with traditional blues roots. While sitting in the producer’s chair once more is Kevin Shirley, a man whose work I can be indifferent to, but with Taylor he works well, not least his making valid suggestions about covering others’ material that’s she’s taken on board.
Her reinterpretation of the Van Morrison classic love song ‘Someone Like You’ is most interesting. What it does specifically is stamp the blues into its beat from the start; in doing so it foretells a different spin on the song is imminent even before she begins to sing – whereas male voices like Morrison or Rod Stewart offer abandonment of ego in being besotted, Taylor’s turns the lyrics on their head, the implication being that she has a determined resolve to make a relationship work, it only veering towards the person she’s singing to as the music and her voice take on a more soul-imbued expression. Elsewhere, you’ll find Joan Armatrading’s ‘All The Way From America’ – by chance, like Taylor, another lady who grew up in the Midlands – what Taylor does here is imbue Armatrading’s hit with a wistful longing, and something of a modern production edge while leaning into a musical mood reminiscent of Tom Petty with a Southern rock edge.
There are also co-writes on the album, and with Carmen Vandenburg, we get ‘A Good Goodbye’. Taylor said of that one: “This song is about knowing when it’s time to leave a relationship and that it will actually be a blessing.” Thus, a similar tenet to opening tune ‘Sweet Little Lies’ save this tends to be a more subdued number despite which you’ll hear Taylor’s crisp but melodic guitar lines slip in and out rhythmically with a charismatic allure, while vocally a bitter ending is delineated with a passive soulful regret alongside some wistful gospel backing. ‘Change Of Heart’ was the last single to be released prior to the album’s release and that was co-written with Beth Nielsen Chapman (known for songs with Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Trisha Yearwood etc). The song is apparently the ”most personal” on Heavy Soul and it comes with a warm, heartfelt delivery, being just what the doctor ordered as the sun tries to stir into life, promising summer is on its way – it’s actually a number you could well have imagined The Style Council bringing out back in the day. “’Change Of Heart’ is one of my favourite songs on the album,” said Taylor. “It’s about meeting someone who makes you want to risk your heart again, despite past hurts. Beth’s lyrical genius really brought the emotion of the song to life.” Suitably, this is the track that closes the album.
Self-penned numbers that have themselves changed as they’ve developed include ‘Black Magic’, a number that started off as an instrumental called ‘Butterbeer Blues’ before Taylor added lyrics and gave it a rootsy vibe. A slide guitar wavering eerily during its opening bars before being another catchy ditty. On this, incessant tribal drumbeats are joined halfway through by group female backing vocals, chants and loose clapping while Taylor spins her song in a bewitching manner, and fans get to savour a brief but pertinent rush of guitar during the song’s last moments. Presuming we’ll discover more wicked wanton ways via the ‘Devil In Me’ it turns out rather that Taylor’s delves into the dark recesses of both her own personal struggles and human relationships more widely – you might well miss that first time round as while there’s a slight-of-turn boogie to the number, overall, the lasting impression you’ll get is that this is rock ‘n roll and needs playing loud, that and once more those wonderful soul background harmonies she’s been adding to her music of late being present too.
Blues, with a little whack of funk, comes our way via ‘Drowning In A Sea Of Love’ where the all-too brief guitar simply flirts with you, while ‘Wild Love’ may feign being a coy come-on but it’s intent is obvious. as for title track ‘Heavy Soul’ it may well have Taylor singing the modern equivalent of being born under a bad sign, but the Albert King-styled swaggering guitar that comes in after the song’s beating drumline, implies all the sexual desire of a female take on ‘The Hunter’ – there are some ace guitar sounds on this one, from them chinking away like some Steve Cropper/Niles Rogers hybrid to the bucking bronco lead work that takes no prisoners.
There’s much to admire on Heavy Soul and while – cautiously – I’ll confess its appeal is not quite the immediate love affair I had for Nobody’s Fool, I’m still more than willing to be seduced by it.
- Reviewed by Paul H Birch.
- Heavy Soul is released via Journeyman Records on 7th June 2024 (available here).
- Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube Channel
Track List:
- Sweet ‘Lil Lies
- All The Way From America
- Black Magic
- Drowning In A Sea Of Love
- A Good Goodbye
- Heavy Soul
- Wild Love
- Someone Like You
- Devil In Me
- Change Of Heart
