When Joni says that “pain is the price you pay for loving someone” it’s coming from a place of deep experience. Having relocated to London from LA with her long-term partner, and closest musical collaborator, the singer-songwriter suddenly found herself thrust into a deeply unsettling break-up, one that left her isolated in a brand new country, and also one that pulled back the curtain on a host of unhealthy patterns she had become accustomed to within the relationship.
Her striking new album, Things I Left Behind, is a document of the journey between both the before and after, and is as deeply personal and powerfully moving as such a snapshot suggests. Formed of ten new songs, the album embraces its imperfections, taking its dues from the likes of Feist, Sparklehorse and Daniel Johnston, and is as much a story of personal growth and the courage of convictions, as it is one of heartbreak and turmoil.
Having spent the majority of her twenties songwriting for other artists, in both New York and Los Angeles, Joni turned her focus back to her own music when the pandemic made co-writing sessions impossible. In London, she found glimpses of success while touring with the likes of Laura Veirs, Aqualung, Old Sea Brigade, Dan Croll and more – still, Joni found herself on the cusp of thirty feeling lost and unsure of her future path.
Things finally came to a head while she was on tour with Luke Sital-Singh. “During my previous relationship, the process for recording was very unhealthy,” Joni says of the situation. “I believed that my music was only good because of my ex’s production and his extreme way of working. Most of our recording sessions would end in tears; nothing was ever good enough. It took some time to come out of the shadows. I was touring with Luke when I had a breakdown one night and told him how lost I felt. He offered to try and record with me and see how it went – and as soon as I started working with him it felt so effortless.”
The first song they worked on was “Still Young,” the album’s penultimate song and the moment that kick-started what would become the Things I Left Behind LP. A brooding four minutes, “Still Young” is indicative of the charm that Joni exudes, the confessional lyrics, a weary heart, elevated by an endearing and compelling pop heart that shimmers throughout.
Ironically, having vowed to continue working together with Luke Sital-Singh on new recordings, Joni found herself back in LA, where Luke lived, to begin the next chapter just a short time after leaving the city behind to begin a new life overseas. “It was surreal to return to the place where I used to live with my ex. It felt kind of like time travelling because I was writing about my old life and suddenly I was back there, yet so much had changed,” Joni says.
As the daughter of a submariner, Joni’s childhood spanned moves across the US, Europe, and Asia, and as such she’d always felt like an outsider and often touched upon such themes in her earlier work. Now, with the fresh-faced sharpness of heartbreak and loss, she began to write freely and pointedly about those emotions from the very heart of them.
The album’s first single, “Avalanches,” exists both as a suitable sonic entrance into the album’s tone and feel, while also thematically summing up its beating heart. “It's about the pain and heartbreak of a relationship ending, but also an acknowledgment that I would do it all over again and again,” Joni reflects. “Pain is the price you pay for loving someone.” A glowing, sub-three-minute gem, it epitomises her knack for carving out a dream-like space that always seems to hint at something half-buried; a ripple of dark intrigue below the surface.
This comes to the fore on title track “Things I Left Behind,” a captivating account of how so much of growing up is centered around losing people, places, and things; how we constantly leave pieces of ourselves behind as we move forward. Underpinned by a shuffling drumbeat that keeps the song forever moving forward, Joni’s voice feels suitably alluring against a subtle swirl of guitars and varying tonal shifts that lend the track a bewitching edge.
Elsewhere “Strawberry Lane” details a decidedly poignant sliding-doors moment. The song presents a fictional glimpse at an idealised place where her relationship continued as Joni had initially imagined, where the pair grow old together and everything works out.
Life, as we know, often has its own plan, however, and taken as a whole, Things I Left Behind is a poignant and evocative ode to such things. From its shaky beginnings, Joni found a way to put one foot in front of the other and find a way not only back to herself, but also to a new path where she was able to grow both as an artist and an individual.
“PS,” the closing track on the album, was also the final song written for it, and the moment when Joni knew she’d made it through to some kind of resolution, some kind of victory. “It felt like the story was over and I had found peace in that,” Joni says. “One line from that song in particular really feels like a summary: If I’d have known that day that everything would change, I’d let the record play, as futures slipped away. I wouldn’t fight, I’d let you go, and be glad I got to love you, so you know.” - Tom Johnson
mgmt: dean@terracotta.cc
home
Her striking new album, Things I Left Behind, is a document of the journey between both the before and after, and is as deeply personal and powerfully moving as such a snapshot suggests. Formed of ten new songs, the album embraces its imperfections, taking its dues from the likes of Feist, Sparklehorse and Daniel Johnston, and is as much a story of personal growth and the courage of convictions, as it is one of heartbreak and turmoil.
Having spent the majority of her twenties songwriting for other artists, in both New York and Los Angeles, Joni turned her focus back to her own music when the pandemic made co-writing sessions impossible. In London, she found glimpses of success while touring with the likes of Laura Veirs, Aqualung, Old Sea Brigade, Dan Croll and more – still, Joni found herself on the cusp of thirty feeling lost and unsure of her future path.
Things finally came to a head while she was on tour with Luke Sital-Singh. “During my previous relationship, the process for recording was very unhealthy,” Joni says of the situation. “I believed that my music was only good because of my ex’s production and his extreme way of working. Most of our recording sessions would end in tears; nothing was ever good enough. It took some time to come out of the shadows. I was touring with Luke when I had a breakdown one night and told him how lost I felt. He offered to try and record with me and see how it went – and as soon as I started working with him it felt so effortless.”
The first song they worked on was “Still Young,” the album’s penultimate song and the moment that kick-started what would become the Things I Left Behind LP. A brooding four minutes, “Still Young” is indicative of the charm that Joni exudes, the confessional lyrics, a weary heart, elevated by an endearing and compelling pop heart that shimmers throughout.
Ironically, having vowed to continue working together with Luke Sital-Singh on new recordings, Joni found herself back in LA, where Luke lived, to begin the next chapter just a short time after leaving the city behind to begin a new life overseas. “It was surreal to return to the place where I used to live with my ex. It felt kind of like time travelling because I was writing about my old life and suddenly I was back there, yet so much had changed,” Joni says.
As the daughter of a submariner, Joni’s childhood spanned moves across the US, Europe, and Asia, and as such she’d always felt like an outsider and often touched upon such themes in her earlier work. Now, with the fresh-faced sharpness of heartbreak and loss, she began to write freely and pointedly about those emotions from the very heart of them.
The album’s first single, “Avalanches,” exists both as a suitable sonic entrance into the album’s tone and feel, while also thematically summing up its beating heart. “It's about the pain and heartbreak of a relationship ending, but also an acknowledgment that I would do it all over again and again,” Joni reflects. “Pain is the price you pay for loving someone.” A glowing, sub-three-minute gem, it epitomises her knack for carving out a dream-like space that always seems to hint at something half-buried; a ripple of dark intrigue below the surface.
This comes to the fore on title track “Things I Left Behind,” a captivating account of how so much of growing up is centered around losing people, places, and things; how we constantly leave pieces of ourselves behind as we move forward. Underpinned by a shuffling drumbeat that keeps the song forever moving forward, Joni’s voice feels suitably alluring against a subtle swirl of guitars and varying tonal shifts that lend the track a bewitching edge.
Elsewhere “Strawberry Lane” details a decidedly poignant sliding-doors moment. The song presents a fictional glimpse at an idealised place where her relationship continued as Joni had initially imagined, where the pair grow old together and everything works out.
Life, as we know, often has its own plan, however, and taken as a whole, Things I Left Behind is a poignant and evocative ode to such things. From its shaky beginnings, Joni found a way to put one foot in front of the other and find a way not only back to herself, but also to a new path where she was able to grow both as an artist and an individual.
“PS,” the closing track on the album, was also the final song written for it, and the moment when Joni knew she’d made it through to some kind of resolution, some kind of victory. “It felt like the story was over and I had found peace in that,” Joni says. “One line from that song in particular really feels like a summary: If I’d have known that day that everything would change, I’d let the record play, as futures slipped away. I wouldn’t fight, I’d let you go, and be glad I got to love you, so you know.” - Tom Johnson
mgmt: dean@terracotta.cc
home