Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
To subvert the narrative is an act of rebellion to which many cannot find within themselves to understand. To know that the lie of advertising is aimed squarely at the emotional pull of guilt, of envy, of possession, is to understand that you cannot have it all because something must always give, that the ideal is an illusion, and the perfect is unobtainable.
This state of affairs often boils down to adoring the trivial, as well as ignoring the disproportion between a life well lived but with low expectations, and that of the constant search for control and the unattainable peak of constant flawlessness; it is impossible to achieve the latter, but the former offer offers a much more grounded sense of achievement, it the message of the Hardcore From The Heart that overrides the soft insistent pleasure from the brain.
Catalan singer-songwriter Joana Serrat’s rich and immersive heritage and music performance is a case in point which exemplifies her fifth studio album, Hardcore From The Heart, as it unflinchingly examines that imbalance which we pursue and pay for with our soul, if not our lives.
Joining Ms. Serrat on the album are Joey McClellan, Aaron McClellan, McKenzie Smith, Sharon Van Etten, Jesse Chandler, Eric Swanson, and Tony Serrat, and as tracks such as the openers Easy and Pictures fill the listener with the serenade of belief, it is to the moments that fill the soul, You’re With Me Everywhere I Go, How To Make You Love Me, Demons and Take Me Back Where I Belong which fill the air with acceptance, of pushing back the boundary, but also understanding that there are natural limits to anyone’s dreams.
It is to that acceptance that the album excels, as it refuses sincerely to be anything other than heartfelt, genuine, a frank portrait of a woman who is open and sees the vulnerability in us all.
An album of pleasurable sound and artistic vision, one that is grounded in its truth, one that is unshakable in its passion and belief, Hardcore From The Heart is an album of committed faith to the cause of the pursuit of enlightenment.
Joana Serrat’s Hardcore From The Heart is out now and available from Loose Music.
Ian D. Hall