Joanne Shaw Taylor: Heavy Soul Review

Fans of Joanne Shaw Taylor will be delighted to learn that the blues maven returns this month with Heavy Soul, her powerful 10-track collection of new material due out June 7 on Journeyman Records. The project is Taylor’s ninth studio album and her first since 2022’s Nobody’s Fool.

While most of the songs on Taylor’s new album were strategically released as singles over the last several months, Heavy Soul’s arrival marks the first time the entire collection can be heard all at once as Taylor initially imagined it. Clocking in at 44 minutes, the album is an exciting return to the mixture of blues, rock and soul that Taylor first captivated audiences with on her 2009 debut White Sugar.

Heavy Soul begins with “Sweet ‘Lil Lies,” the first track that Taylor wrote for the project. A bluesy riff anchors the song as Taylor sings of a romance nearing its expiration date, a fitting sound and theme for the album’s opener. Taylor next covers Joan Armatrading on “All the Way From America,” a song full of longing that is made all the more heartbreaking as Taylor softens her voice to match the vulnerability of the lyrics. The song is the first of only three on Heavy Soul that weren’t written by Taylor, with the powerhouse guitarist and singer also lending her talents to Van Morrison’s “Someone Like You” and “Drowning in a Sea of Love” by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff.

After “All the Way From America” is “Black Magic,” a track that shows Taylor embracing a rolling rhythm as she blends her voice with those of her backing vocalists. Taylor told Blues Rock Review earlier this year that she first envisioned the song as an instrumental track for Nobody’s Fool but ultimately decided to build it out. The resulting track is fun and snappy, with a sticky kind of beat that keeps going in a listener’s head long after the song itself ends.

If “Black Magic” brought the fun blues style that Taylor fans know her for, her performance on “Drowning in a Sea of Love” spotlights her guitar talents as it provides her a chance to solo mid-song for more than 30 seconds, a stretch of guitar mastery that she easily transitions in and out of. She delivers another memorable track with “A Good Goodbye,” an easy-paced song that sticks out for its catchy riff and delicate vocal blending as Taylor once again brings in her team of backing vocalists.

Taylor picks up the pace with the album’s title track and “Wild Love,” the latter serving as one of Taylor’s early singles in support of Heavy Soul. While Taylor has said the lyrics show her embracing a new maturity as a songwriter, the song itself has a special kind of momentum that maintains the listener’s attention from start to finish.

Taylor’s cover of Morrison’s “Someone Like You” arrives as an outlier of sorts, a slower and more contemplative track that eases the pace between the contained energy on “Wild Love” and the speedier “Devil in Me.” Taylor blisters through another solo on “Devil in Me” before diving into “Change of Heart,” an upbeat song that closes out the album on a hopeful note with a “we’re all in this together” kind of feeling.

From the seven new Taylor originals to her thoughtful covers, Heavy Soul shows Taylor both embracing the styles that she initially found success with and trying new things. At a tight 44 minutes, it’s a crackling album full of energy and passion, a strong offering from Taylor that her fans are likely to love.

The Review: 8.5/10

Can’t Miss Tracks

– Black Magic
– A Good Goodbye
– Wild Love
– Devil in Me

The Big Hit

– Wild Love