SEPT SINGLE FLASHBACK – Cori Nora ‘Fake Flowers’
15 September 2023
As I rushed into the nearest bar, the warm mist of a modest and hushed 20-something crowd enveloped me, the atmosphere filled with the soft embrace of bedroom-like folky words. This was a performance that stuck with me.
5 months on, Joely June has been keeping busy. With a new name dawns a new era for the Oxford-based soulful songwriter. This exciting rebrand promises a soft gut punch of anthemic sweeping vocals, gritty guitar, and earworm hooks, and we are not disappointed in the ‘Joely June debut’ single “Time & Space” released on Sept 15th.
I had the privilege of witnessing Joely’s talent for connecting with her audience during her recent single-release show at the Louisiana in Bristol. Her set flowed flawlessly, showcasing her past and future releases, with credit due to her band, including Matt Shelbourne (drums), Phil Spencer (bass), Evie Norman (backing vocals and keys), and Ryan Chan (guitar)*.
Charming against the backdrop of soaring layered electric acoustic guitar, and heart-racing instrumental progression “Time & Space” begins to spin a desperate tale of dedication. June’s performance is one of emotional intimacy and vulnerability, her tone beautifully delivering a tender and soothing longing, making the listener feel as though they are being comforted or reassured, but is the outcome one of hope or loss?
Written by both Joely June and Phil Spencer, the lyricism mixed with seemingly effortless musical synergy radiate a newfound clarity of well-tuned confidence in her exciting take on folkloric indie pop.
“If you wanted time I’d wait,
And if you want the world I’d give you all eight,
Still wouldn’t be enough space for you.”
Breathing fresh air into a genre which has arguably been given a backseat in recent years (arguably – being the recent spark in the “Sad” Folk-Pop TikTok Movement caused by the likes of Boy Genius) in no doubt has been something Joely June has always been capable of, saying that – this new energy is propelling her as one of the grassroots circuit performers to keep your eye on.
On the new track Joely voices:
“Time & Space is a fun, soaring festival-friendly song, about an imbalance in a relationship, be it friendship or romance. I think it’s common for women especially to feel like the love and care they’re willing to give goes undervalued and unnoticed, and I wanted to tell my experience of the desperation of just wanting to be seen and heard by someone. It’s the beginning of the important realisation that no matter what I do, it might never be enough for them, and an empowering discovery of self-worth.”
It is safe to say her passion lies at the core of honest and meaningful songwriting, playing a few unreleased tracks I have had my ear to what’s to come, and I strongly urge anyone in the radius of a Joely June show to hear it for yourself. The growth for Joely June in the last 5 months alone has been spectacular…God only knows the heights she will be skyrocketing to in the not-so-very-distant future.
*Credits on the official song recording are said to be (Joely June · Stuart Jones · Harry Quinn · Tim Turan · Phil Spencer · Matt Shelbourne · Phil Spencer · Joely Rendle)