C Joynes – Poor Boy On The Wire
Cardinal Fuzz (CFUL 0221) / Sophomore Lounge (SL 124) – 3 December 2021 (pre-orders now)
C Joynes is always a busy and adventurous musician, but Poor Boy on the Wire is his first solo long-player since Congo a decade ago. Whereas that album embellished Joynes’ guitar playing with strings and Asian instruments, Poor Boy is, from the off, a celebration of the electric guitar, with very little else on the songs. This gives the music a feel probably closest to Joynes’ 33 Chatsworth Road EP or his Split Electric record with Nick Jonah Davis, who produces here. Indeed, They are Beautiful, They will Never Die is similar in its ramshackle nature to Tango Wire 334, which features on both Chatsworth Road and The Borametz Tree, with the Dead Rat Orchestra, but here it is much closer in feel to the EP version. What is immediately evident is the focus on the timbre of the electric guitar, with the mic clearly brought in close to really capture the nuances and character of Joynes’ small but interesting collection of pawnshop guitars and amps. This is very much a record for the audiophile, and it is even available in both stereo and mono mixes, with both the broader sound of the former and the more intimate and narrow sounding mono lending themselves very well to these twelve tightly focused tracks.
The quite ominous and progressive structure of Waverley Cross brings to mind previous songs Triennale and Bold William Taylor, with a subtle high drone sound and the odd super-low percussive thump hiding behind the guitar and adding to its sense of drama.
A sweeter song with a less beefy guitar sound is Mapperly Park to Atlow Moat to Leamoor Derby Road, which contains a charming, almost stuttering refrain at its core. After this one and the even friendlier and very catchy Redwing, side B takes us into slightly stranger territory. Night over Djerba utilises a double-thumbed guitar technique, but the effect is that of a pickaxe, which gives the backdrop to the tune an odd industrial edge. Goold’s Bicycle follows this neatly composed song, a piece of fidgety improvisation that brings to mind some of Bill Orcutt’s acoustic work on his beat-up Kay guitar. This loosely structured tune is great and really evokes a sense of tinkering in a small space; it also, like opener Barricades, nicely contrasts the solid tunes that Joynes is so accomplished at performing.
Poor Boy on the Wire is as balanced and diverse a set of songs as you would expect from C Joynes, one of our more experimental and musically itinerant guitarists. Beautifully played and delicately handled, it is an album for the discerning listener.
- Pre-orders: Friday 1st Oct 2021
- Release date: Friday 3rd Dec 2021