​Joy Oladokun (from the album Observations from a Crowded Room

​Joy Oladokun (from the album Observations from a Crowded Room

​Joy Oladokun (from the album Observations from a Crowded Room available on Amigo Records/Verge Forecast Records/Republic Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
More a recording project than a traditional ten+ cut albums, for her recent release, Observations in a Crowded Room, Joy Oladokun questions and answers the multitude of thoughts in her own mind as well those we share as citizens of Earth. The album opens on ambient sounds, quieting when Joy Oladokun reads a poetic “Letter from a Blackbird”, the dreamlike sonics supporting the song before handing the free-floating groove to the rhythmic Folk of “Am I?”.  On three spoken-word observations, she shares the secrets in her head, voicing her inner thoughts in an effort to work reach potential decisions, or at least glimpse what her efforts today will lead to in a future time. A repeating theme in Observations in a Crowded Room contains the repetitive theme of ‘am I the only one?’. Whether she reaches an end with “Drugs”, shouting out to the heavens and asking for a new path, admitting ‘I’ve been running on empty and calling it strength’ because ‘the drugs don’t work, and I can’t get high’ as she searches for both physical and spiritual doctors to heal her body and soul. A chorus of voices travel across a stark musical backing that rides underneath the declarations in ‘flowers’. As with all the songs on Observations from a Crowded Room, the tracks are connected, linking the diverse sounds seamlessly with the threads of comment and perceptions.
 
As Observations from a Crowded Room looks deep into the psyche of Joy Oladokun, it channels both sides, the artist and the human away from the stage. The songs reflect a turning point for the artist, who wrote, produced, and largely performed all the tracks on the album. Of the experience, Joy shares that ‘this album became a way for me to write things, feel things, process things. Because, as the producer, I just had to sit with these songs for so long. It became really healing in a sense of, ‘I made this. I’m listening to an album that I genuinely love. All the sounds and bits and bobs came from me with the help of just an engineer.’ It was transformative. So, it started out as, ‘I quit,’ and it has ended up as a fresh start’. A dreamlike soundscape floats through the walls of “Hollywood” as a story sprays itself with vocal athletics. Voices rise up to comfort the story unfolding in “Questions, Chaos & Faith” while Joy Oladokun offers kind memories to a former lover in “Good Enough”, considers leaving Nashville with “I’d Miss the Birds”, and exits the album with a church basement piano and a steady beat bidding “Goodbye”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
Listen and buy the music of Joy Oladokun from AMAZON
 
Head over to the Joy Oladokun website for more information