Album Review: Josienne And Clarke’s Overnight Is Like Folk Daylight
By now, my readers know I love nature because often I use environmental references in my reviews. My favorite aspects of nature are bright daylight and the wind. As you can see from my concert review of Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker’s and even the album cover for Overnight, they, too, share an appreciation for picturesque surroundings. Yet, such love, is inevitable when you are making music that sounds like its exact beauty.
Overnight is the album you put when you go to a park and stop to look around the people passing by or the way the tress dance in the gusts of wind. It is also a record to put on when you want to look at stars and wonder what life must be like when you live in a pure beam of light. The album is marked as one that I call a spiritual “cool down”. For starters, the voice of Josienne Clarke is meditatively observant. Whether she is pondering the stunning, yet self-deprecating nature of the moon in The Waning Crescent or singing of how she must leave her love while the sax and piano melodies meld in “Milk and Honey”, Clarke’s vocals beguile with their meekness. She comes off like the innocence and humility one feels when they look at nature and realize its bigness.
There will be several moments throughout Overnight, where you will find yourself saying “Whoa!” as you realize the trance Clarke’s voice can induce. She has a way of bringing out the fragility of a person. When she sings with her soprano flares of emotions, you feel as if each note is a crack into her mind and soul. It is as if she is observing nature to feel more apart of it moreso then she feels apart of her relationships like with “Light of Day” or “Dawn of Dark”. She, along with Ben Walker, create songs that exemplify every attempt we all have made to reconnect with someone or something because we feel so alone. Whom has not looked into the sky, and wondered about the future or what is beyond this life? It is through Josienne and Ben that I realized we all have moments when we look to the sky to feel apart of the universe, which sparks inner melancholies and victories as we discover that union. Yet, Ben Walker’s string arrangements are key to Clarke’s vocal foundations.
From Americana-infused guitar sets, splashes of drumming to build listeners’ heart rate, rivers of piano melodies that harmonize with Clarke’s voice, and smooth “saxophoned” waves, Overnight might as well be its own landscape. Walker’s own string arrangements, which include the marvelous mandolin, hold the vocals of Clarke like they are colorful leaves tussling in the wind. As the lyrics promote both an awe and sadness at how a spirit can fit into the world, you will wonder your own place in it. Their songs tap into the fear and lovely curiosity that comes with living, making the record one for giving peace, even if for just one music hour. To Buy this angelic record, Overnight, on October 14 or To Learn More About Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker Click Here.
