by Julianne Akers (@JulianneEAkers)
It is easy to find music that makes you want to belt its lyrics or dance to its rhythm, but some music has the special ability to make you sit down, listen and feel. That’s exactly what Joanna Sternberg’s sophomore album, I’ve Got Me, accomplishes. The singer-songwriter released the folk-esque record last summer, but its introspective lyrics embody an autumn evening while the days dwindle faster, the leaves brown and the raindrops slowly trickle down the window.
The New York based artist is able to so delicately craft a collection of songs that transport the listener to a different, more distant time. Their tender, warm vocals are reminiscent of 1950s Connie Converse with witty and heartbreaking lyrical undertones similar to that of Dan Reeder, Jeffrey Lewis, and even Fiona Apple. All that said, Sternberg creates a sound of their own, one where you can almost see a dim apartment with a single lamp illuminating the room as they rattle off the lyrics so effortlessly.
The title track encapsulates a theme of the entire record – losing love and turning to yourself amidst feelings of anger and frustration. Two verses sum it up perfectly:
And all my faults and flaws and lies
Are no one's fault but mine
Between self-hatred and self awareness
Is a very small thin line
I can’t stop my worry, and my fury
Of all that I’ve done wrong
I waste so much time, I mean it
So much time
I’ve got me in the morning.
I’ve got me in the evening.
I’ll let you be because
I’ve got me
While Sternberg’s self-annoyance comes through, they do not fail to portray tones of resentment and digs to those who wronged them. Their bitterness so vehemently shines in upbeat tempo tracks like “People Are Toys to You” and “Stockholm Syndrome,” where they so ingeniously say:
Did you keep your room so dirty
So I feel like I’d have the flu?
Did you expect me to clean it
Like your mom must have done for you?
Sternberg channels that irritation in their instrumentation as well, with bluesy piano riffs as sharp as a knife on the throat. This angst boils over in “The Human Magnet Song” and “I’ll Make You Mine.” While most of the lyrics explore self doubt, loneliness and hopelessness, the final track, “The Song,” gives the listener a small glimpse of something better. Of better days coming. A gleaming light in the midst of gloom. Sternberg knows their drifting cloud of sadness will eventually dissipate, and when it does, perhaps future releases will peel back another layer of their complex, ornate emotions.