Review: Current Joys - 'East My Love'
Alternative/Indie Folk - Released October of 2024
“This is what I hope people find out of the record—a solace from any anxieties or depression.” - Nick Rattigan
From seasonal changes to reconnecting with nature to purging through astrological cycles, there is a clear spiritual investigation on shame, transformation and experiential acceptance occurring universally.
Current Joys artist, Nick Rattigan, curated a melancholic and faithful emulation of the new age all-American spiritual resistance in his most recent 12-track indie folk rock release, East My Love. Unexpectedly, East My Love shares musical synchronicity strengthened by cinematic energy and critically outlines the triggers and catalysts of emotional experiences. The album questions the act of contriving hope beyond circumstance and examines the journey of spiritual unraveling.
In the isolation of Tennessee woods, without any cell service or human interaction, singer-songwriter and musician Nick Rattigan wrote and reverberated somber sounds, familiar feelings of loss within love, and painful spiritual renewal and duality. The folk instruments like the fiddle and acoustic guitar gently cradle us back to empathic wisdom for painful catharsis—in total all-American songwriting fashion.
“There’s a lot of pain and anxiety in a beautiful setting so there’s a lot of duality in the songs.” - Nick Rattigan
East My Love provides us with lyrical guidance in escapism, seeking faith within horrors of the open ended void of self doubt, and the reward in and value of an opportunity to seize the moment. Radically accept ones own suppressed naivety. The entire album is representative of cathartic releases with melodic fiddle alleviation. The central core of this project: “Everyone deserves peace of mind.” - Nick Rattigan
The opening track, “Echoes of the Past” alludes to triggers, manic introspection and awakenings. There is a sense of comfort in reflection where an underscore of childlike rage is familiar to us all. The lyrical contrast from being awfully cynical to faithful in hope and healing insists that respecting your intuitive reality benefits ones own path forward. The folk element creates body with a fiddle break which captivates one into an abyss of the unknown. Accompanied by humming, I was reminded of familiar instrumental pockets from “Become the Warm Jets”, a Current Joys single release from 2018.
Three singles, track 5 “Lullaby for the Lost”, track 7 “They Shoot Horses”, and track 2 “California Rain” were released about four weeks before the full album release. I had not heard any of the singles prior to listening to the album, but I decided to listen to them separately as singles. All three involve a swooth of intense drum rhythms and musically dramatic composition led through pensive lyrical paths. I quite liked them all and for very different reasons.
“Lullaby for the Lost”, is a song written by Nick which provides us with a sense of empathic guidance and motivation for the emo fallen soldiers. Where the fiddle and his vocal scales synch, the string instruments mimic overdrive in quite a monotonous beat. The message seems to go back to self-acceptance, as the lyrics mold our journey of introspection, and reflecting on ones past or shadow self to heal and ascend from. Rattigan sings, “There’s no love in suicide,” detailing how no temporary feeling is worth latching onto or chasing where there is the potential for the permanent loss of ones self. The last string coda felt like the cherry on top of a hot fudge sundae of quite a satisfying cadence of melodies.
Singing amongst feminine vocals, Rattigan charms our psyches through self-pity and helpless accountability. In “They Shoot Horses”, the lyrics rawly account for self-criticism exemplifying how karma is deeply imbedded in life cycles— even when you surrender to burdens or are absolved of guilt. The internal perception of disgust in “I’ve never done this before, That’s why I can’t look you in the eye,” curtails victimization, and the instruments reunite with a fiddle break of nearly half a minute creating a surrounding release while the bass and hi-hat end it off with a smooth finish.
“You can’t take the sorrow I’ve carved in my fate,” - Current Joys
In, “California Rain”, Rattigan sings about avoidance, anxiety, and settling for confusion or uncertainty in any relationship where the fear of abandonment/insecurity is present. “It’s hard to see you, but I’m so glad you came,” perfectly describes the humbling reality of being codependent, losing sight when naive, and operating behind rose colored glasses. Comfortable recognition comes after the liberation of said awakening and by simply valuing the art of detachment despite its emotive intensity.
My top 3 rated tracks off of this album are currently, track 9 “Tormenta”, track 8 “Slowly like the Wind”, and track 3 “Days of Heaven”. Surprisingly, none of the singles made it into my favorite tracks, but I say that with no intention of discrediting the listens of the singles. They deserve genuine notability, but there were a lot of alluring aspects to adore in this indie folk rock project.
The memorable acoustic guitar and melancholic vocals of neediness and desperation in “Tormenta” evokes the reminiscence of anguish and being on your last legs. The lyrics seem to calculate chaos, ignorance and neglect before salvaging ones self from unbeknownst tragedy. The strings and drums’s subtle crescendo create a shift and represent what its like to come face to face with a painful ending unexpected. And to dare to love yourself through it. To continue to have an open heart for others while setting particular boundaries in the face of toxicity underscores challenging ones hypervigilance to attain true spiritual fortitude.
The vocal-guitar ballad, “Slowly like the Wind” encourages going optimistically into the unknown as a guiding force. In this comforting track, Rattigan gently urges us out of romanticizing codependency and the idea that someone will come to save us. Sacrificing independence and being one’s own saving grace is all within perception. But by no longer perceiving a lack of support, you realize how much gratitude would rather be expressed had your focused simply been on anywhere else. Nonetheless, the experiences serve us as opportunities for accessing the avenues towards enlightenment and places where we can connect with our higher truth. Missing certain blessings in disguise, we can foolishly misunderstand our own spirit and vitality, which is the driving force of one’s faith and soulful restoration.
Finally, the third track, “Days of Heaven” captivates our attention for a less than two-minute instrumental composition of keys (and more keys) out in the distance. This song uses bouts of natural sounds similar to that of a rusted playground swing or the Larsen effect ringing quite arbitrarily. Windy synthesizers high at stretch whisk you into a flow of light keyboard melodies. I feel as if this song especially suits the energy of airiness and divine enigmatic floating depicted by its name.
Honorable mentions I won’t disregard are the title track, “East My Love” and track 12, “Feelin’ Groovy”. Rather, at pushing nine minutes long, track 11 “East My Love” exemplifies the symbolic nature of self acceptance through recognizing every raw emotion willingly and examining faith defying uncertainty. The two-minute vibe of an acoustic jam, “Feelin’ Groovy” promotes eternal groove and recites carefree lyrics supportive of our universal access to healing through relationships, interaction and free love. Celebratory in spirit, this ends the album off with passion for internal liberation and mirrored acceptance. This final track’s verses end with minor vocal scatting, where raw musicality is wrapped up in a contradictory yet warm weighted blanket.
“You can be all that you need.. Is it enough,” - Current Joys
Rattigan lyrically alludes to receiving spiritual support if one has radical acceptance and inner peace—which attracts external fulfillment. The key break designs room for the string melody and harmonic scales. In the final four and a half minutes, the fiddle and drum thrust us into a pile of dried up autumn leaves showcasing a ceremonious atmosphere, where melodies lift us up, way up until the very end, until it feels like we fall straight through.
The rest of the tracks on this project integrate hard hitting folk rock with beautifully bending guitar breaks and crescendos diluted by echoes, ooos, and muffled audios of nostalgic dialogue. As the instruments round out all of the remaining rough edges, Track 4 “Never Seen a Rose”, is an example of where Rattigan leans into more familiar indie rock elements. Here, his whispering vocal tones and shout-singing gels perfectly under the most comforting, melodic fiddle breaks. It all just works because its uniquely balanced, and peacefully intimate.
In East My Love, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Neutrality is the key to evaluating self-awareness or subconscious behavior. Rattigan preaches how amidst our unity in torn experiences, how regardless of our willingness, our most fiercely protected and fragile emotions are meant to be felt in order for genuine healing to commence. From the help of producer, Andrew Sarlo, Nick found the courage to confidently illuminate the messages he felt were once too triggering to divulge. The rawness of this project is sensed throughout—especially when evaluated in comparison to other works of him, and his personal story behind this release speaks volumes of intention, interdependency and mental-spiritual-emotional fortitude. Nick Rattigan beautifully enmeshed traditional American indie-folk songwriting and shoegaze instrumental elements with vulnerability and subtle grace.
C+ (7.7/10)