About Me
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"I'm an extremely organized maniacal mess. A big social-faking introvert. A thinker/writer who pulls up one thought and finds the entire world attached to it--making it impossible to write or talk. So I make music which somehow is able to say it all. Multiple instruments at one time can get it all said in 3.5 minutes. Amazing."
Buy the album here:
With her first Independent full-length studio album, Joni appears to be at the beginning of a her career, but this road has long been carving a path. After writing and performing music for several years, In the Dark, is a stepping out of that privacy in which she first began sharing music, marking her passageway from the literal closet (where she recorded many of her first home recordings) to the public stage. Well-received everywhere she goes, her music is a btoh comforting and painful offering, a kind of awakening from, she says, "the clouds we choose, the shame we forget can be lifted."
On piano and guitar, with a Joni Mitchelle-like honesty in a picturesque musical setting, she's not an intentionally jolting performer, though her music evokes a definite response. From intimate piano/vocal to moving band climaxes in the journey of this album, there's a kind of contained intensity that her songs deliver. "And after such a long season of steeping, these songs are definitely past ready for drinking!"
One part folk-rock, one part alternative pop, she started in a Lubbock coffeehouse (as a duo with husband Zach) which turned quickly into a band with Dolf Guardiola, Jonathan Smither. They played a season in that area, eventually bringing on Jon Walker on bass when life took Jonathan in a different direction. Then with the generosity of Brad Roberts, it was off to recording In the Dark mostly at Amusement Park Studios in Lubbock, TX. With the help of the band, Joni kept the production in many cases true to the old keyboard/guitar/drum demos recorded in dorm rooms, closets, and back rooms years before. "Being my debut album and without any real pull to appeal to any particular market, I felt free to let it be what it already was. I was able to capture what felt pure and right, the way I've always made music up to this point."
Spanning quite a time period, there were plenty of songs to choose for the album, but wanting to give a taste of the full spectrum of her music and to capture the story, she chose songs from the very beginning and kept them, for the most part, in that order. In this way, it's a perfect introduction to her music and to where she's been. Her words say it best:"I wanted to lay out the journey, so it's a bit dark in the beginning. It lightens up as the album progresses. ... I think it's a journey that everyone goes through-- perhaps more gradual or coming later for others, but it's about seeing yourself in the light... when you didn't even know you were in the dark at all. This is music from the very beginning, the journey up to this point. I've been making music for a long time, just privately. Many of these are songs I've been carrying around for years, "waiting" to share them, too afraid (and too poor!) to simply make an album. The album chronicles the thoughts and ideas that had me pinned, moving in circles, and they chronicle my journey into and out of some of that confusion. A coming out of darkness...not into the light of the public eye, but the light of truths that freed me to be myself and share my music. We grow up doing the things people clap for, taking the road of least resistance, most applause. We need a place for untangling, redefining, discarding the definitions of others to be replaced with our Maker's. We run from that, because we are afraid of that--not knowing that what we push way is an amzing gift to us."In the Dark encapsules that struggle and chronicles the standstill in which she remained a nonpublic performer for, what her fans will tell you, was too long!
In preparations for recording, another project came into view as she decided to publish a collection of the writings and poems that are the "sisters to these songs" in a book she titled after a work of art by friend, Ruth Simons, "Sheer Drapes on My Windows." (Get it on Amazon.com or at the joninicholsband.com Store.) "This book is a precise fit, part of the package of this album to me. I had to publish them!" she says. They chronicle the same journey in its phases, which are the four main sections of the book: Tiring, Cocooning, Crawling, Walking.
Taking a walk through the album: “American Eyes†helps to set the record straight with her take on the "all-american girl" she was--and most are--groomed to be--clearing assumptions and setting a foundation for the rest of the songs. “Have you seen her†continues this conversation, and moves toward a darker inner-reckoning. Then the title track “In the Dark†leaves us with the haunting question, "would you want to walk away and be free?" ... or choose to stay unchanged. Obviously, she chose this walking away--as the next four songs mark various turning points, one of them a love story, and “I rose†marking a definite victory in the fight. From there the album perks up a bit with a sense of moving forward. Then, the final summing anthem “Blanket of Love†(written by Zach) waves a banner of thanks, and then there's the final look back at the "Novembers" before.
After this first independent release, the path soon led her outward. After originally looking to Austin, TX, Zach and Joni decided they just may as well keep driving so-to-speak, landing them in CA, near friends in Studio City. The year in Los Angeles led to opportunities in Nashville where she and Zach (without the original band) are working on demos for the next release. Stay tuned for more info and updates on when to expect more music!
"I expect a lifetime of giving music, in the fullest form and capacity that I can. You just decide that this is something that you have to give, and you give it. I've been blessed to have people come alongside to help make that a reality at every new season and every new project, and blessed to have Zach to share and do it with."
