Joshua James
(Intelligent Noise)
Joshua James doesn't write about love, at least not in the conventional sense. "It's such an oversaturated topic," he says. "Maybe I'm just not clever enough to write a real love song." Not likely. On the Nebraska native/Utah transplant's debut he devises a pretty witty take on "The New Love Song." He claims another tired ballad "will make me sick/about a stupid emo rocker and his messed-up chick," his typically quiet voice practically frothing over barroom piano. James is plenty clever, and emphatic almost to a fault. He feels his subjects' pain, as on the standout "FM Radio" about a friend whose father "went down to the river to die alone." James asks her, "What happened to your lonely soul?" as if his own is lost as well. It's quite beautiful.
But after eleven tracks of James' whisper teetering on the verge of tears or panic, the constant trembling wears thin. That said, The Sun Is Always Brighter is a welcome break from all the paint-by-numbers solo artists who gave the term singer/songwriter a bad name. Goodbye clichés, hello complex explorations of faith and fatal flaws. James has serious staying power.
Standout Tracks: "FM Radio," "Soul of the Sea" JAMIE GADETTE
