We spend our lives looking for answers, I suppose, but do we ever truly get them? That seems to be the question “Luv In The New World” is asking.
Joe Nolan may be billed as an award-winning Americana singer-songwriter, but whatever you think that means, Nolan isn’t it.
From the opening strings of “Wake Up Little Anna,” it’s clear this is something different. Perhaps even unsettling in ways you weren’t expecting. The poetry of the words is striking too: “They’ll stab you in the back, the wound will be poorly stitched.”
“Too Much Time To Kill”—which, never mind its claim that “the cold wind bites like a rattlesnake”—is elevated by the gorgeous harmonies of Sara Watkins, who also plays fiddle here.
If he sounds weary up to this point, then by “Half A Tear, Half A Grin,” Nolan sounds utterly spent. The spoken-word delivery drapes itself over instrumentation that is always compelling, if never quite what you thought it would be.
The fragility of the strings on “Never Been Here” gives it the sense that the words are intruding on the music, almost claustrophobic in its Elliot Smith-like intimacy. Meanwhile, the off-kilter, Wilco-tinged “Blood On The Pages” captures the stark reality of life on the road—where only the strong survive, and Nolan shows no sign of swapping music for a “proper job” anytime soon.
This isn’t your standard Americana fare. There’s something beating differently at its heart. Partly because Nolan’s songs sound confessional, and partly because tracks like “Rebound” don’t really build—they just arrive, existing as though they were always here.
It can’t be easy to find something new to say in roots music at this point, yet the best manage it. “Modern Day Melancholy” leans on wonderfully understated drumming from Griffin Goldsmith (Dawes), while Grammy-winning producer Tyler Chester contributes haunting piano to “Daffodil,” which carries the devastating line: “You were born with the music, it’s time you used it.”
“The Maze” reflects that “everything’s going wrong,” carried by a soulful undercurrent reminiscent of 90s Americana in the wake of Lambchop. Dylan Day’s beguiling guitar work here is especially compelling.
This study of love in ten songs closes with “When They Call Your Name”—a more conventional slice of Americana, perhaps closer to what I expected when I first pressed play. Even so, its nine minutes of words tumble out like modern-day Dylan: rough, rowdy, and real.
Ultimately, the sheer quality of the musicianship, married to Nolan’s lyrical flair, makes it impossible for “Luv In The New World” to fail. What sets it apart, though, is the completeness of the vision. Perhaps one of the oddest records of its kind in recent times, these ten songs are darkly compelling.
Rating: 8.5/10
