Album Review: Joan Armatrading – How Did This Happen And What Does It Now Mean
3 min read
As far as music legends go, Joan Armatrading can easily be placed with the likes of Cat Stevens, Gerry Rafferty, and Patti Smith. The three-time Grammy nominated, Ivor Novello Award winning singer-songwriter rose to fame in the early 70s off the back of hit Love & Affection, and since then has continued to release music consistently, this latest release being her 21st album. How Did This Happen And What Does It Now Mean follows her 2021 album Consequences, and stands as another hit in a long line of hits.
25 Kisses starts the album with an 80s aesthetic, Joan’s vocals bouncing around the mix while staccato digital drums and a multitude of synths fill the space. It’s a jovial love song, something that Joan is well known for, but there’s an unexpected youthfulness that gives the track heart. Someone Else is the complete opposite emotionally, talking of the other side of love. Distorted guitars intertwined with classic rock motifs and reverb soaked synths meld into a love-sick anthem. Irresistible and Say It Tomorrow take similar paths, leading with electric keyboards and pianos. The former has one of Joan’s best vocal performances on the record, sounding as powerful as she always has. Back And Forth is an out-of-pocket song; an instrumental consisting of just a drum machine, bass and a fantastic, Santana-esc guitar solo. Nearly four-and-a-half minutes of pure noodling. It ends rather abruptly, making way for the synth strings and pianos of Come Back to Me (If Only in Dreams). There’s an airiness to the instrumentation, and to Joan’s performance, that add to the track’s sentiment of remembering someone in daydreams.
Redemption Love is another ballad that verges on the sounds of Joan’s 80s output, the feeling behind the lyrics felt hardest in the simple but effective chorus. The title track certainly is the most memorable song on the album. Joan sings of seeing something awful, asking the universe where to go from such as event. It morphs from a drums led piano ballad to a synth drenched expression of understanding. ‘We are not broken, but we’re flawed’. Moving into the latter half of the song it transitions back into the piano of the beginning, but with a newly found intensity. It’s a beautiful feat of songwriting from start to finish. Now What seems to attempt to answer the question posed by the former song in musical form, it being another instrumental with excellent soloing to boot. The closer, I Gave You My Keys, is another pleading love song, Joan telling the person she’s decided to share her love with that they need to reciprocate, using keys not only as a physical metaphor but an emotional one. It’s a bittersweet ending to the album, the instrumental itself light and almost comforting, but lyrically and emotionally it packs a punch.
How Did This Happen… is an album of love, both in the thematic sense and in its creation. Joan as always has poured her soul into each track on here, opening wounds and revealing all. Musically, there’s not much unexpected going on, and fans of Joan’s previous work will enjoy both its similarities and its usual quirks, but for new listeners this is as good a jumping off point as any.
Writer and Musician, Ryan Bulbeck has been published with a number of online publications, and has worked with a myriad of great artists, both as a performer, and as a producer. His most recent band The 295 are still active, playing shows around the UK.
