Joan Shelley
The Spur
No Quarter
2022
The opening lines of Joan Shelley’s new album The Spur set the stage for everything that comes after. “Am I losing my mind?/ Do I see you there too?” If the past two years have done anything, it’s led us to question everything. Confined, yet in the midst of it, Shelley seemed to find a way to be contented as she prepared for the birth of a child with her husband and guitarist, Nathan Salsburg. There was a growing appreciation for what they did have, “High as the clouds/ When we named them our mountains/ My eyes squint to see them/ To trace their ridge lines.” Played out over the sounds of a steel resonator guitar, bass and droning keyboards, “Forever Blues” is pregnant with possibilities, amidst a refrain that makes her intentions clear, “I’m with you.”
At the heart of “Amberlit Morning” is the counterweight of Bill Callahan, whose low tones provide the yang to Shelley’s yin. Dealing with themes of beauty and impermanence, Shelley relates something her father would tell her, “When I was a child, my father, the painter, would tell me the Picasso quote: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” Shelley and Callahan forge a bond that glues together the thoughts of how we retain our sense of childhood wonder once the world has had its way with us. Yet we also get to re-experience it as we watch our children have the same sense of awe from a vantage point farther down the road.
In some respects, nothing comes close to the sheer beauty of “When the Light is Dying.” The arrangement is nothing short of magical. Guitar, bass and drums, augmented by cello and brass create moments that anchor the song while placing it clearly in the world of dreams. She finds a world of ghosts while traversing the flat plains of Kansas listening to Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker.”
This is an album of simple power. Nothing feels out of place, it is not so much set in a moment, rather it feels like a sea of them. Each moment builds on what has come before, creating sounds that feel surprisingly simple. Yet listening, one realizes the simplicity is deceiving. Neither the music nor the lyrics are exactly what they seem, there is beauty and grace beyond anything Shelley has done before.
Times are what we make them. Joan Shelley has used her time to create something truly special with “The Spur.” It isn’t merely a window into a woman, it is a mirror that allows us to see the world differently, to view these moments not only as what they are but as moments rife with possibility.
The Spur is released via No Quarter Records on 23 June 2022.
Pre-Order via Bandcamp: https://joanshelley.bandcamp.com/album/the-spur