Simon Joyner :: Tough Love
Drawings by Mark Gilbert
Omaha, Nebraska-based singer-songwriter, co-founder of Grapefruit Records, producer, and provider of poetic prolificacy, Simon Joyner is your favorite songwriter’s favorite songwriter. His epic efforts in expanding the soulful system of the songbook are paramount, and with each new record released, whether solo or with bands/projects he’s established over the years, the eager energy and artistic atmosphere are the same. Joyner’s melodic momentum and catalogue of crucial content span over three decades, and counting, and like a whispering wine aging in the depths of an abandoned ship in Cape Verde, someplace off the coast of West Africa, dying to be discovered by the obsessed and dedicated, the veteran songwriter’s lyrical legacy has become a staple among his peers and contemporaries. Wielding a similar range and radical reach as James Toth (Wooden Wand), Bill Callahan (Smog), Bob Dylan, Will Oldham (Bonnie “Prince” Billy), and Jason Molina, to name a few, Joyner’s feverish focus and sonic sacrifice to his craft should be studied at universities, various laboratories, as well as within the walls of coffee shops where creative conversations flow like an endless river of Yirgacheffe. “Tough Love”, Joyner’s 19th album, and a double to boot, ultimately raises the bar, naturally, to a lyrical level that should not only challenge his listeners, both old and new, but songwriters around the world, and how they could approach their craft. The endless streams of songs and prairies of paragraphic poems flow in and out of creative consciousness like a biblical butterfly stretching its weird wings in the spring air.
Photo: Sara Adkisson Joyner/BB*ISLAND
While the album sheds a lucid light on grief, the polarizing politics in an authoritarian America, love, loss, and finding spiritual solace in this earthly existence, Joyner’s melodic management of instrumentation, sonic sequences, and the language of the band, which features players like the Dailey brothers, Michael Krassner, Mychal Marasco, and additional collaborators such as Ben Brodin, Megan Siebe, and Laraine Kaizer, this body of work sawn dives into the expressive ether where light escapes through a poetic pin hole. Where shattered mirrors reflect the several personalities, and hiding places where we store our most sacred traumas, Joyner repairs those precious panes by carefully connecting each shard and song in a perfect pattern, and only he knows the ritual placements, too. Featuring a lovely list of tracks like “Winter Say”, “Wild Palms”, “Isn’t This How The Story Always Begins?”, and the breathtaking 20-minute title track, which separates bone from marrow in the most cinematic way possible, “Tough Love” is simply a masterpiece that can quickly replace your heart’s next destination if it needs that extra embrace from the plunge into darkness. Released on BB*ISLAND and Ryan Davis’s beloved Sophomore Lounge label, this body of work finds itself in the company of the greats while simultaneously establishing a new narrative in American songwriting.
