REVIEW: Joshua Worden – ‘Always This’

June 9th, 2013

Brian Leak

Artist: Joshua Worden
Album: Always This
Genre: R&B, Indie, Down-tempo
For fans of: James Blake, Josef Salvat, How To Dress Well

It only takes 20 seconds of Always This to know that you’re in for a treat when Joshua Worden‘s soulful croon hits a sweet spot after the album’s opening line in “Marrow.”

“I finally found a song / from deep within the bones it comes.”

With influences like D’Angelo, Frank Ocean and James Blake, you can tell Worden has done his homework and applied the impressions he’s absorbed into his sound with a smooth vocal delivery accompanied by a simple slow-burn production that accentuates his style wonderfully. Always This is wind down with a beer music. Chill out, slow jam, relax your mind music. Worden originally transitioned from indie rock to his new-found sound and these roots show in Always This nearly as much as his R&B infatuation does. Luckily for us, both genres mesh wonderfully throughout this effort. If you’re familiar with Active Child, How To Dress Well, or Josef Salvat, then you may be familiar with the genre synthesis I’m referring to. Playful synth work and particular structures in tracks like “The Road” and “The Hunter” help to bring summery vibes to the surface with some of those indie rock elements.

The album’s midpoint, “The Skies Glowed,” portrays an even slower, more intimate side of Always This with a very Chris Martin/Coldplay kind of style which is fantastic. The track switches up half way through though to a funky beat with a scaling synth bit — a complete mood and tempo change. It becomes Coldplay remixed by Lymbyc Systym. Side note: me comparing Always This to all these other acts is in no way me saying that Worden shows no originality. They’re simple comparable reference points but every bit of this record is Joshua Worden. I suppose I just admire his choices that he (seemingly) draws inspiration from.

While not a single track on this album is “too long,” some of the beats can begin to feel a little tired as its song trudges along. It’s like trying to chug a smoothie; it may taste delicious but it feels like you’re never going to get through it. Due to the slow tempo and familiar kick/snare patterns that most of the tracks contain, although minor, there is a sense of redundancy in Always This. There are certainly sections that make you forget this though. Tracks like “The Turning Quiet” and “To Dust” offer variations to keep it fresh and interesting. Hell, the final song, “The Line,” even has bars from Josh’s friend, Atlanta-based rapper, blxtxt.

Always This is a solid effort up and down. Essentially, there’s nothing truly wrong with what it is but it does feel like a starting point for Worden. It feels like a rough blueprint for what he aims to achieve on future efforts. I can’t help but surmise that Josh walks around his home fully clothed when he’s alone. Maybe he has no blinds and he has judgmental neighbors who love to poke their nose in everyone’s business but hopefully when he begins to write and record his next effort, he’ll put some shades up, strip down to his Walter Whites, ignore the nosy neighbors, and feel comfortable at the boards in his own home.

Josh’s vocal talent and production work is impressive but I feel like he’s holding back a bit. Whether it be for fear of what listeners may think or he just isn’t confident in his ability to add more elements to his tracks and push his vocal range, well, I’ll never know. I certainly understand that sometimes “less is more” and you can ultimately diminish something’s value by over-complicating it. However, I sense that he’s not too far off from making the impressions that new acts like Fyfe and Glass Animals are with more layers and substance in their sound. If Josh is 100% happy with where he is, then he’s doing everything right but if he feels that he needs to progress and expand, then I think he can do that as well. Always This insinuates that. It alludes to something even greater I believe and if that something comes I’ll highly enjoy it, but I won’t be surprised by it.

SCORE: 8.5/10
Review written by: Brian Lion – Follow him on Twitter