SINGLE REVIEW: BROOKE LAW - JOYRIDE
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
One might have thought that the release of her debut album "Naked Heart", might have brought a pause in releases from Brooke Law. Far from it she's sounding bigger, brighter and bolder with her new single "Joyride". The cover pic does still show a fascination with all things ventricular, with Brooke sporting a t-shirt with another graphical representation of the heart on it. Is that also a subliminal "Number 1" in the background?
With First Time Flyer, Tim Prottey-Jones on production duties, a cracker is all but guaranteed and so it pans out.
It all begins as just a strumming electric guitar, almost in the vein of the DIY ethos of the early Stiff Record releases such as Wreckless Eric, as Brooke declares a number of things, a sort of future manifesto.
"Gonna run away tomorrow, gonna make my best mistakes
Gonna treat my liver better than today"
Bass and the slightest of percussion starts to appear as she continues over the guitar, and the reasons for this new outlook become more apparent.
"Gonna ride into the sunset, gonna laugh my tears away
Gonna look back, and thank God for yesterday!"
It's a restrained vocal throughout, almost a sense of world weariness of the past yet looking forwards to the potential of tomorrow. There's a slight rise in the guitar playing before it drops back down again, before heading into the pre chorus, it's subtle yet totally essential.
Additional backing vocals, join Brooke's as she leads up to the chorus stating
"Sometimes it's the dark, that makes you see the light
Sometimes it's the wrongs that will make it right"
The chorus when it arrives is something of a surprise, because all of the instrumentation fades apart from the odd punchy guitar chord or two, and it is initially a communal, almost spiritual gathering with additional voices and clapping joining Brooke.
The definition of a joyride is a ride taken purely for pleasure, typically in a car, and often driven at reckless speeds, Brooke applies it here to her life and the people she has met along the way.
"Life is a joyride getting higher
Full of the good souls and good liars
Throwing us up down and sideways
Breaking our hearts along the way"
It is only now that the full band kick in and it becomes the all out muscular rocker that we were expecting.
"So go on and set my heart on fire
I'll carry on right to the wire
Come on and lead me to the place
I'm a sucker for some pain"
The second verse is a full band rocking from the start, lyrically there still seems to be a need to resolve issues of the past before moving forward.
"I've been stuck out on this dirt track
I've been waiting for a start
That old road don't want to fix my heart
Oh the street lights keep on stalling
And my mind it holds me back
Hanging on to what I could have had"
The pre chorus changes slightly
"Sometimes it's the dark, that makes you see the light
Sometimes it's a blessing in disguise"
The second chorus rocks it's way through
"Leave me out in the rain,
I want that rainbow
I'll put up with the pain
As long as it takes and I feel again"
The final chorus sees Brooke adding additional vocals supplementing her lead ones to really celebrate the chorus to the full.
This seems like the start of the road to album two, it's a journey #TEAMw21 are more than ready to embark on.
Brooke Law will be appearing at Country Calling Chelmsford August 14-16th
