Josienne Clarke
Onliness – Songs of Solitude & Singularity
Corduroy Punk Records
14 April 2023
On Onliness, Josienne Clarke re-explores material from her own back pages – those that were overlooked, or simply songs she felt were abandoned. As a result, her music in 2023 is alive and simmering.
The word onliness means the fact or condition of being alone. Interpreted by Josienne Clarke, it refers to both “solitude and singularity; being one of a kind, but also alone in the sense that you are apart from other things.” It is a word that she once believed she had invented, only to later discover it already existed, and it does feel very apt when applied to Josienne and the musical journey she has been on these past few years. 2021’s album ‘A Small Unknowable Thing’ felt like an artist uniquely focused on forcing a change in her career. It was a punchy beast that stood out because she was offering tantalising glimpses of an independent musical language entirely her own that appeared rather suppressed within previous settings. It certainly fired up my interest in her work; the suggestion that losing those shackles would propel her skywards was backed up by recent music.
Last year’s ‘Now And Then’ album, interpretations of other people’s songs, really ramped up her potential to my ears. It was a version of Sharon Van Etten’s ‘You Shadow’ that absolutely floored me, becoming one of my most played tracks of the year; boy did she get inside that song. More relevantly, though, it confirmed my suspicion that the creative freedom she carved herself has resulted in an artist who radiantly found her voice. She is free to express and explore her music in whichever way she feels. This is appropriate in the lead-up to the release of ‘Onliness’ for the mission drive of this latest LP is a re-exploration of material from her own back pages. Not just an obvious ‘best of’ curation either, more like a reclamation of pieces buried in the archive, overlooked or simply songs she felt were abandoned rather than fully realised. In tandem with this is a more practical prerogative; as Josienne explains, issues arise when “a big label owns the masters of your songs forever, you earn little to nothing from those recordings. It’s not surprising that an artist would have to explore re-recording from a financial standpoint alone.”
Were it not for the artistic evolution of Josienne Clarke, a project like this might be mistaken for a career retrospective with a new lick of paint. However, it is far more; if anything, ‘Onliness’ will be the preferred destination for anyone wishing to hear the best versions of the material featured. From the opening track ‘The Tangled Tree,’ which is the earliest number dating back to 2004, the motion is reconnection with the spirit in her music’s initial inspiration, confidently bringing in any element that fits, be it a distorted electric guitar part, aggressive rhythm, spacious tranquillity or electronic found sound sailing the peripheries. Thanks to this, the seventeen songs have massive sonic variation, the glue that holds them together are the personal identifiers that stamp this woman’s work; a graceful melancholy in the melodies and a bird-like fragility to her singing coating an underlayer of grit and menace you would be foolish to ignore.
Among the many highlights are ‘It Would Not Be A Rose,’ treated to a production aglow with gothic foreboding, whilst ‘Something Familiar’ has the framework of a classic ballad wherein the gently played electric guitar emphasises the wistful yet hopeless longing in the lyric. ‘Homemade Heartache’ wears and sings its country influences with pride, and ‘Anyone But Me’ now has a driving rock setting, which perfectly suits the affronted bullishness at the centre of the refrain. As effusive as that is, ‘I Never Learned French’ is idiosyncratic as it orbits a jazz-influenced saxophone part. The album closes with one new song brought to the table, ‘Words Were Never The Answer.’ Here, in a simple acoustic arrangement, Josienne Clarke sings of the release in just letting go, avoiding the slippery slope of over-explanation to ears that are not set to receive. Maybe this really is the wisdom of the forty years she speaks from, but fortunately for us listeners, that time has also taught her the value in her own music and the power of her vision as a creative. Here she is presenting that work with an assuredness and singularity of intent that has been hard won, and, on this evidence, it was a battle worth fighting because she sounds in a good place now. Josienne Clarke’s music in 2023 is alive and simmering with this wonderous re-heating.
Onliness is out on April 14th via Josienne Clarke’s own imprint, ‘Corduroy Punk Records’. Pre-order here