I feel like a large portion of albums I’ve started to review more often have all followed a consistent pattern. There’s a category that encompasses solo records and side projects, and for the past few reviews, I’ve spent time talking about the freedom an artist has to change up their sound and create something they wouldn’t usually create. I’ve touched up on the fact that more often than not, it’s quite therapeutic. For Joy Williams, this statement speaks louder than the rest. After a considerable amount of releases as a CCM artist, a few independent solo EPs, and the rise and fall of her Grammy award-winning folk duo with musician John Paul White, The Civil Wars, Williams took the time to craft a collection of songs born out of discovery, loss, struggle, acquiescence of mutual discord, and celebration. The result is VENUS. Joy’s fourth solo record is a statement at the very least, and a personal cornerstone of reinvention at the most. Those expecting a return to her CCM roots will be disappointed. Those hoping for the sounds that accompanied her time in The Civil Wars will be disappointed. VENUS is so much more.
“Before I Sleep” is a dark, uptempo opening track. Williams’ voice is accompanied by triumphant percussion and a haunting piano. Hidden deep beneath layers of background vocals and percussion is a subtle synthesizer that signals her change of sound. Her voice is as smooth as ever, and as a whole, this song does a pretty good job letting the listener know what’s to come. “Sweet Love of Mine” is even more haunting than its predecessor. The sharp and organic percussion and the ominous strings, combined with a little less power from Joy’s voice, almost give off a slight trip-hop vibe musically. Lyrically, the track is a love letter to her child as she sings “I gave you your name, You gave me back my life…”. It’s an interesting choice of music to accompany such lyrical content, but it fits within the grand scheme of the record. Lead single “Woman (Oh Mama)” has grown on me since its release. Rhythmic and bold, the track carries influences from numerous genres, and it’s the first song on the record where we get to hear Williams give it her all with regard to her vocals. It’s soulful and unapologetic. Lyrically, she sings of the grandeur and accompanying pain of womanhood with lines like “I am the universe wrapped in skin”. The contrast between this track alone and anything else she’s released before is so large, one would be foolish to compare it to the aforementioned. “One Day I Will” bears a small resemblance to “Sweet Love of Mine” with its ominous instrumentation and key, but it takes the heavy handedness to a new extreme. Instrumentation is highly minimal and evokes a sense of sadness and understanding in the listener. The attached lyricism is just as dark. One could associate its inception out of personal, relatively unknown issues, but it’s hard not to think back on the discord that led to the breakup of The Civil Wars when I hear this track.
“Not Good Enough” features some of my favorite instrumentation on VENUS with it’s highly organic arrangement of synthesizers, piano, and percussion. It’s not the most memorable track on the record, but within the grand scheme of the rest of the songs, it’s definitely needed. I bet it’ll grow on as time goes by. The last 30+ seconds of this track contain a brief interlude into the following track, “What a Good Woman Does”. Like “One Day I Will”, the lyrical content is born out of the breakup of The Civil Wars. The references are so obvious, they almost hit the listener in the face. Despite hints regarding the exact reasoning behind their demise, neither Joy nor John Paul has gone into detail regarding the underlying tension in full. Accompanied by a piano and a small string section, Joy stands on her own, stronger than before, trying to put this in the past. The result is quite beautiful, and as the gateway into the second half of the record, both the emotions it evokes and its importance to Joy and the listeners makes it quite possibly the best song in this collection. “Until the Levee” follows in the best fashion possible. While the lyrics detail the strength of recovery, it’s unavoidable to applaud Joy’s vocal delivery on this track. It’s bold yet smooth. The only thing that would make this track even better than it currently is would be a slightly longer run time. Clocking in at just under 3 minutes, it’s the shortest track on VENUS, and it leaves the listener wanting more. “You Loved Me” is borderline adult contemporary pop, but nevertheless organic in a sense. It’s refreshing to see something a little more positive on the record. For fans of CCM Joy, the accompanying lyrics are the closest to any sort of spiritual reference you’ll hear this go around, although that shouldn’t matter in the slightest. It’s beautiful and not to be passed up.
“The Dying Kind” is almost chant-like in its delivery. It’s just as dark as some of the previous tracks with lines like “Every rose has its thorn, every thorn has its crown…”. Even Joy has had a hard time pinpointing the inspiration behind the lyrics. Part of it comes from her father’s cancer diagnosis. Some comes from personal turmoil. Regardless, it continues the intertwining narrative of struggle throughout the album. “Till Forever” begins with the sound of chirping birds, but it’s quickly interrupted by a soft, clean electric guitar and piano. Lyrically, it’s about the fragility of her marriage to husband Nate Yetton and its repair. A love letter born out of trials and pain, it pays a lot of homage to the Japanese art of kintsugi (fixing broken pottery with precious elements like gold, platinum, etc.). It’s Joy’s way of saying that out of pain can come something beautiful. “Welcome Home” closes the album with a similar weight, yet its focus is more on that of finality. The underlying strings and orchestral percussion drive the record home, no pun intended. It packs less of a punch that some of the previous tracks, but at this point, it doesn’t need to. It’s exactly what this record needed to end.
VENUS comes at the perfect time for me. The breakup of The Civil Wars was quite a rough time for a lot of people, and I was no exception. They had cemented themselves as one of the best musical duos of any genre in my book. Both Barton Hollow and their self-titled final album had driven me to craft the best music I can as a songwriter. I still tear up almost every time I listen to “Poison & Wine”. Through their short-term success, however, it was evident that their days as an act were numbered. The news of their disbanding came as no surprise to me. Between then and now, Joy Williams had done a lot of soul searching. The result of that exploration led to quite possibly her finest work to date. That’s a difficult claim to make, given the impact that The Civil Wars had, but it’d be a lie to say that she didn’t have a stronger foothold in the duo than John Paul White did, so in that sense, it’s pretty justifiable. It still blows my mind to know that over 80 songs were written for this record, yet we only get to hear the best 11. Regardless, these 11 songs that make up this collection have no limit of words to describe this body of work as a whole. Bold, unwavering, fearless, haunting, personal, and beautiful are some of those words that come to mind. It still blows my mind to know that over 80 songs were written for this record, yet we only get to hear the best 11. VENUS is all of these things and more. What it lacks in ability (which is a pretense in itself) it makes up for in emotional response. The journey that Joy went on to make this album must have been quite difficult, but out of these fires she’s had to endure, she’s come out stronger than ever. I can’t even imagine how another woman will put out a record this good this year. A must-listen for everyone.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55sY1WqGyMY[/youtube]
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