Written by Becca Hemens
Wednesday 19th January 2023
Resident Music In-Store Performance
Perfomance: 8/10
Album 7/10
A Tender Yet Impassioned Premier for an Album of Romantic Anguish
With a clear feeling of trepidation for the emotional unfurling to come, Joesef welcomed his crowd with a humblingly timid spirit as he sipped on herbal tea and reminisced upon post break-up nostalgia. As he began with the more upbeat “Its Been A Little Heavy Little”, a sense of intimacy alluded the venue as a night of mutual heartache commenced. As his effortless camaraderie and Glaswegian pride proved to win over the audience, his acoustic renditions of “Apt 22” and “Borderline” conveyed the vulnerability of his new album. Yet after his performance of “Just Come Home With Me Tonight”, it was hard to evade the feeling of a seemingly one-tone album. With the audience-chosen hits “Comedown” and “Loverboy” closing the show, it proved clear that this album was missing the energy, drive and melodic radiance of his previous popular releases. His sleek vocality, however, proved to entrance the audience as he fluently reciprocated the beauty of his recorded material, and proved his status as a frontman for the soul-pop genre.
