Janet Devlin – Confessional (Insomnia Music
UK)
Release Date: Out Now
For those of you that remember Janet
Devlin from her stint on the X Factor, you may want to forget everything you
thought you knew – this is a new project. ‘Confessional’ is a twelve-track collection
that takes you through the ins, outs, twists and turns of Devlin’s life experience
to date and it is well worth your time. The title track, ‘Confessional’, gets
proceedings underway with a mixture of what sounds like a monk boy band and
some celtic melodies before Devlin’s breathy but powerful vocals join. In terms
of power and vibe, this reminds me of the first time I heard Alanis Morissette
as the mixture of hooks and incisive lyrics makes for an intoxicating mix. We’re
up and running.
‘So Cold’ has a more subdued feel
as a lonely piano riff is swollen by strings until the beat eventually drops
and you get chills. The forlorn strings of ‘Saint of the Sinners’ is dripping
in the mists of the Irish sea while ‘Cinema Screen’ takes the ambition and
creativity to a new level with US levels of production sheen, an earworm of a
chorus and Devlin’s siren song of a vocal. ‘Speak’ borrows from Irish staple ‘Oh
Danny Boy’ for a few bars but then morphs in to something of a more romantic
love song whereas ‘Honest Men’ has a darker feel that you don’t come across
often even in the alt-pop world but it is so deliciously appealing that you
wouldn’t be surprised to find that Hozier had some involvement.
What Devlin does so beautifully on
this album is use her impish, elfin voice to lull you in to a false sense of
security before hitting you square between the eyes with epic, sweeping
melodies and an ambitiousness that outstrips most other solo artists on the scene
at the moment. On ‘Love Song’, for example, there is a gentle melodic violin
but it’s mixed with a stomping blues-esque rhythm and that distinctively beautiful
vocal all mixed to, somehow, make a gorgeous alt-pop ballad. ‘Big Wide World’
is a more optimistic sunny Saturday morning of a song which bounces and fizzes
in equal measure before ‘Away with the Fairies’ deals with mental health in a
way that is uplifting and empowering in a Katy Perry kind of way.
The last quarter of the album
starts with ‘Sweet Sacred Friend’ which mixes harp ripples, woodwind and sultry
beats to come up with a sound that is Northern Ireland’s answer to Shakira. ‘Holy
Water’ is dripping in Gaelic influences and all the better for it but closing
track ‘Better Now’ is more akin to Devlin’s flame haired sister from another
mister Tori Amos. This is a hugely impressive, ambitious and rich album that
should do well on both sides of the Atlantic and is genuinely worth your time
and energy. This album will repay you, in spades.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/thejanetdevlin/