Joby Fox is a native of Belfast, a songwriter and musician, who started out in post-punk outfit The Bankrobbers and guitar-based Celtic rock band Energy Orchard. I must admit I saw Energy Orchard a fair few times and loved the songs `Sailortown` and `Belfast` which Joby wrote. He recently released his latest album `I Was Once A Hawk Now I`m A Dove`. The singer has shared thatthe album title “speaks about the emergence of a ‘New Ireland’ and specifically to those who feel trepidation about the future. The message is simple – we have all come a long way together.”
The album opens with the reflective `Falling` which is piano led with a double bass and brushed drum which gave it a kind of late night jazz feel and for me brought to mind the wonderful American singer-songwriter Bruce Hornsby. The song, I read is about the healing effect of being in a loving and supportive relationship. There`s further reflection on `Don`t Come To My Rescue` which appears to reflect on a broken romance with one participant about the leave their hometown as there`s too many painful memories in the city to remind them of this lost love. I assume as Thomas Street and Marshall Street Lane are mentioned it could well refer to Belfast and taking the ferry out of the port. The harmonies throughout really express the sense of pain felt in this parting.
`I Took A Walk` is a pictorial stroll through places and times that were pretty formative in the singer`s adolescence and is so descriptive that you can almost touch the buildings and feel that sensation of early love and romance. There`s a starkness about `No Home` a song of migration and the perils involved. There`s a real sense of fear, heartache, and loss especially as the number is stripped back with predominantly piano and vocals. Joby has stated that “the parallel between current victims of forced migration and Irish population of the 1840s struck me. Having witnessed first-hand the desperation of whole families and communities, and indeed countries, my imagination brought me vicariously to the trauma of my Irish ancestors.”
`Angels Fly` has a rich intensity and begins as another jazz tinged offering which had a kind of spirituality about it. The latter part had a fiddle segment which gave it a delightful Celtic tinge ala traditional reels like `Toss the Feathers`. There`s a much jazzier mesmeric feel to `Dream On` which I have to say had me drifting off into everyday thoughts of my own.
`I Thought I Knew You` drifts along and has a kind of new age jazz vibe especially towards the end with its dreamy soulful guitar chord tinges. We have a more upbeat submission with `This World Is Crazy` although the lyrics are maybe more thoughtful and meditative.
The album concludes with `I Love You` a number which has a contemplative beauty about it where piano, drums, strings and bass all get to compete as the track evolves and grows. A thoughtful number to wrap things up on.
`I Was Once A Hawk Now I`m A Dove` is a really enjoyable listen with some well thought out and constructed songs. Joby Fox sings with a Northern Irish tinged pronunciation with soft vowels and whose enunciation really draws you into what`s shared. I must admit it was good to catch up with somebody whose previous work I’d really enjoyed in my early twenties and is still producing some interesting and thought provoking music.
Rating 8.5 /10
