Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
No matter where you look now, or in the company you keep, there is always a voice that is loud and demonstratively clear that proclaims that there is no depth to the music that sits in the days we share, that it is almost a void of emotional attachment that people don’t wish to acknowledge, the thought perhaps of the very act of exploring and enjoying new music from even the more established names of the world, being one in which is in the bounds of the traitor and the deserter to what went before.
To hear the thoughts of a woman to whom music is innate, more than a sense of self, and not wish to identify with the issues raised or the beauty that pours out of her, is to demonstrate at first hand the lack of desire to see past the decades gone and the affection you feel strongly for; without exploring something new, you are consigning yourself to history and that is something that is Not Too Far Away, that is the edge of personal existence that we don’t surely want to enter.
In Joan Armatrading’s latest album, the belief of the Birmingham raised musician is awe-inspiring, the projection of the voice never wavers and is, as always, refined and vast. Nothing changes in life so much as the voice if not cared for and for those whose trade is that resonance and vocal sound, the obligation to pay particular attention to it is one that must be diligently observed and Ms. Armatrading does so with deep beauty and thought, it catches the ear profoundly and makes the listener understand pain, sympathy and love in one sweeping arrangement.
The opening track, I Like It When We’re Together, displays this constant drive to show the audience and fan alike the depth of song-writing at her disposal, an agility of thought and precision that is always met; and in this continues throughout songs such as No More Pain, Invisible (Blue Light), Always In My Dreams, Loving What You Hate and the album’s title track Not Too Far Away, Ms. Armatrading loads the emotional well up to its possible maximum and then with one swift move, knocks it down to release a wave of enjoyment over those who refuse to believe that the modern age could match their vision of a golden musical utopia.
An album of honesty, of passion and openness, Not Too Far Away is always the hope that we place in those we love; a spirit captured by Joan Armatrading throughout her career.
Ian D. Hall