Christa Joy and the Honeybee’s superlatively seminal Alt-Country single, Omens, from their eponymous fourth studio album, charts a profound journey mapped by emotive storytelling and artfully affecting sonic processions. If any contemporary country singer-songwriter can instil an infinity for Americana in the new generation of music fans, it’s Christa Joy with her irreverently witty lyricism.
The single initiates with Christa’s hauntingly reflective, pensively tinged vocals, adeptly drawing listeners into a world filled with imagery-evoking melancholy before the salving honkytonk instrumentals accompany and soothe Christa’s poetically outpoured pain as a parable for the sanctifyingly uplifting nature of the soundscape.
The tale of how endless time can feel in the wake of a breakup which leaves your world feeling cold has been told countless times before. Yet, by playing with light and shade, interplaying torment with gratitude and injecting some quintessential country humour through evolving lyricism centred around the dog that was left behind, the single unravels as a tenderly heartwarming revelation of how disorientating it can feel to step into the world, unsure of what paths to take to heal.
With the 4th LP from the Western Massachusetts singer-songwriter in the pipeline and due for release on August 24, there’s never been a better time to tune into the artist’s alchemic approach to conjuring emotion through artfully orchestrated alt-country. The album promises an exhibition of the band’s chemistry and Christa’s maturation as a songwriter, featuring tracks that range from classic honky-tonk to gospel-tinged country ballads
Omens was officially released on August 2nd; stream the single on Bandcamp and SoundCloud.
Review by Amelia Vandergast