"Ear drums buzzing / At bus stops waiting / Cigarette smoke burning my brain / Just be yourself, don’t try to fake / I really love the way you are...."
The gentle sonic puffs and emo inhalations of "Limp By Your Side", the title track of Dallas, Texas singer-songwriter / musician JOURNEYGLO's debut album, is at once as beautiful as it is artfully hypnotic, meditative. The textured sound of fingers on acoustic strings recorded intimately, as JOURNEYGLO's intertwined vocals seem to wrap around the guitar melodies, is a blend of reticent tenderness and thoughtful ruminations. The syncopations are one thing but the emotional rushes and hesitations do a lot of the artful heavy lifting. It is like being on a Ferris Wheel and even though you maybe turning at a steady speed, you feel like you are speeding up in the ascension between 10 and 12 and free falling between 12 and 3. I had that sense listening to "Limp By Your Side" as the vocal phrasings pulse on and off beats and then only on (or something like that) creating emotional rushes and falls.
The folk iteration here hinges on blues percolations too and the addition of sparse piano, lovely bass shapes and orchestrations of sound, strings or mellotron synths swelling, droning all feel special and drip with nostalgia to me. AND the lyrical content woos as well.
At bus stops waiting
Cigarette smoke burning my brain
Just be yourself, don’t try to fake
I really love the way you are
I want to hug you like a coat
You’ll never wear me down
Trees in the street
Red leaves falling
Cars passing by, look both ways
Stepping outside, your world becomes mine
I know you more than yesterday
I want to read you like a book
I’d never let you down
Questions you have
Decisions to make
Whatever you do, I’ll choose you
Will you let me limp by your side
We can take one step at a time
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[Singer-songwriter JOURNEYGLO’s first full-length album, Limp By Your Side, is born from the tension of liminal experiences. That uncomfortable space where we earn self-growth and our beliefs are tested. Her 10-song debut album documents a transitional time when the Dallas, Texas-based artist shifted from faith-based music into a more secular indie sound with cinematic and ambient textures.]
“Each song on this album came from a different pocket of that in-between. Many don’t offer resolve, and that’s intentional,” she says. “I wanted some of them to end mid-thought, mid-feeling without forcing a clean conclusion. They’re an honest pause between what was and what might be. I’ve learned that if we don’t sit with these uncomfortable moments and feelings, we miss something for the next part of our journey.”
[JOURNEYGLO is a Korean pastor’s kid who discovered her faith after adolescence, and then embarked on a Christian artist career, releasing five singles to date. Her single, “Communion Proposal,” was featured in Indie Folk Central’s first-ever Christian playlist. Recently, the Limp By Your Side track, “Wave After Wave,” was featured on a thumbnail in NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest newsletter.]
[When writing the Limp By Your Side songs, JOURNEYGLO found herself asking questions and addressing feelings that didn’t fit tidily into the genre, as she understood it. “I never want to bash Christian music. I honor where it is then, now, and how it has evolved,” she says. “That said, I wanted to explore topics that could be taboo, and I didn’t want to feel boxed in.”]
[Fittingly, the songs on Limp By Your Side don’t have happy endings. “These songs are like having someone sit with you when you’re in a dark place,” JOURNEYGLO says. She writes cathartically and candidly about painfully complex feelings, and life challenges. Her words are direct, but have a poetic flow without sacrificing emotional candor for a literate flair.]
[The song was written while balancing her own struggles with being able to show up for her friends and loved ones. “I had just come out of some deeply honest conversations with close friends; some who were going through really heavy, personal struggles,” she says. “I was also walking through a hard season of my own, carrying things I didn’t fully know how to talk about yet. This song emerged as a, ‘hey, I might be limping in life too, but if it’s OK with you, I’d still love to walk beside you.’”]
Such a lovely introduction for me and I look forward to hearing more.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://www.instagram.com/journeyglo
https://journeyglo.bandcamp.com/
https://substack.com/@journeyglo
https://www.youtube.com/c/GloriaSLee
https://www.journeyglo.co/
Singer-songwriter JOURNEYGLO’s first full-length album, Limp By Your Side, is born from the tension of liminal experiences. That uncomfortable space where we earn self-growth and our beliefs are tested. Her 10-song debut album documents a transitional time when the Dallas, Texas-based artist shifted from faith-based music into a more secular indie sound with cinematic and ambient textures.
“Each song on this album came from a different pocket of that in-between. Many don’t offer resolve, and that’s intentional,” she says. “I wanted some of them to end mid-thought, mid-feeling without forcing a clean conclusion. They’re an honest pause between what was and what might be. I’ve learned that if we don’t sit with these uncomfortable moments and feelings, we miss something for the next part of our journey.”
JOURNEYGLO is a Korean pastor’s kid who discovered her faith after adolescence, and then embarked on a Christian artist career, releasing five singles to date. Her single, “Communion Proposal,” was featured in Indie Folk Central’s first-ever Christian playlist. Recently, the Limp By Your Side track, “Wave After Wave,” was featured on a thumbnail in NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest newsletter.
When writing the Limp By Your Side songs, JOURNEYGLO found herself asking questions and addressing feelings that didn’t fit tidily into the genre, as she understood it. “I never want to bash Christian music. I honor where it is then, now, and how it has evolved,” she says. “That said, I wanted to explore topics that could be taboo, and I didn’t want to feel boxed in.”
Fittingly, the songs on Limp By Your Side don’t have happy endings. “These songs are like having someone sit with you when you’re in a dark place,” JOURNEYGLO says. She writes cathartically and candidly about painfully complex feelings, and life challenges. Her words are direct, but have a poetic flow without sacrificing emotional candor for a literate flair.
JOURNEYGLO grew up involved in classical performance, and she even earned a pre-college scholarship to Vanderbilt as a clarinetist before choosing a different path. Her well-crafted compositions and haunting melodies exhibit a classical stateliness within an ethereal, and delicately beautiful indie-pop sensibility. The instrumentation is elegantly essential, often favoring her emotive vocals sparsely accompanied by either piano or acoustic guitar. These vulnerable performances are enhanced by moody and moony electro atmospherics.
Limp By Your Side was produced and arranged by well-known Christian music producer Oscar Gamboa with additional production by his brother, Julian. It was tracked at their Dallas studio, JOGS. The recordings themselves conjure a poignant sense of humanity. “I wanted to avoid perfection which ties into the overall theme of limping through life. You don’t have to have it all together to be there for a friend,” she says.
The titular single, Limp By Your Side, features mesmerizing acoustic guitar fingerpicking lavished with airy textures. There is a slight shambolic feel to the rhythm here, referencing back to the title and the idea of imperfectly moving forward. The song’s arrangement unfolds regally, accruing more layers of production as the song cycles through.
Her lyrics combine evocative imagery with raw emotionality. She sings: Ear drums buzzing/At bus stops waiting/Cigarette smoke burning my brain/Just be yourself, don’t try to fake/I really love the way you are/I want to hug you like a coat/You’ll never wear me down. The song was written while balancing her own struggles with being able to show up for her friends and loved ones. “I had just come out of some deeply honest conversations with close friends; some who were going through really heavy, personal struggles,” she says. “I was also walking through a hard season of my own, carrying things I didn’t fully know how to talk about yet. This song emerged as a, ‘hey, I might be limping in life too, but if it’s OK with you, I’d still love to walk beside you.’”
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/journeyglo
https://journeyglo.bandcamp.com/
https://substack.com/@journeyglo
https://www.youtube.com/c/GloriaSLee
https://www.journeyglo.co/
Singer-songwriter JOURNEYGLO’s first full-length album, Limp By Your Side, is born from the tension of liminal experiences. That uncomfortable space where we earn self-growth and our beliefs are tested. Her 10-song debut album documents a transitional time when the Dallas, Texas-based artist shifted from faith-based music into a more secular indie sound with cinematic and ambient textures.
“Each song on this album came from a different pocket of that in-between. Many don’t offer resolve, and that’s intentional,” she says. “I wanted some of them to end mid-thought, mid-feeling without forcing a clean conclusion. They’re an honest pause between what was and what might be. I’ve learned that if we don’t sit with these uncomfortable moments and feelings, we miss something for the next part of our journey.”
JOURNEYGLO is a Korean pastor’s kid who discovered her faith after adolescence, and then embarked on a Christian artist career, releasing five singles to date. Her single, “Communion Proposal,” was featured in Indie Folk Central’s first-ever Christian playlist. Recently, the Limp By Your Side track, “Wave After Wave,” was featured on a thumbnail in NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest newsletter.
When writing the Limp By Your Side songs, JOURNEYGLO found herself asking questions and addressing feelings that didn’t fit tidily into the genre, as she understood it. “I never want to bash Christian music. I honor where it is then, now, and how it has evolved,” she says. “That said, I wanted to explore topics that could be taboo, and I didn’t want to feel boxed in.”
Fittingly, the songs on Limp By Your Side don’t have happy endings. “These songs are like having someone sit with you when you’re in a dark place,” JOURNEYGLO says. She writes cathartically and candidly about painfully complex feelings, and life challenges. Her words are direct, but have a poetic flow without sacrificing emotional candor for a literate flair.
JOURNEYGLO grew up involved in classical performance, and she even earned a pre-college scholarship to Vanderbilt as a clarinetist before choosing a different path. Her well-crafted compositions and haunting melodies exhibit a classical stateliness within an ethereal, and delicately beautiful indie-pop sensibility. The instrumentation is elegantly essential, often favoring her emotive vocals sparsely accompanied by either piano or acoustic guitar. These vulnerable performances are enhanced by moody and moony electro atmospherics.
Limp By Your Side was produced and arranged by well-known Christian music producer Oscar Gamboa with additional production by his brother, Julian. It was tracked at their Dallas studio, JOGS. The recordings themselves conjure a poignant sense of humanity. “I wanted to avoid perfection which ties into the overall theme of limping through life. You don’t have to have it all together to be there for a friend,” she says.
The titular single, Limp By Your Side, features mesmerizing acoustic guitar fingerpicking lavished with airy textures. There is a slight shambolic feel to the rhythm here, referencing back to the title and the idea of imperfectly moving forward. The song’s arrangement unfolds regally, accruing more layers of production as the song cycles through.
Her lyrics combine evocative imagery with raw emotionality. She sings: Ear drums buzzing/At bus stops waiting/Cigarette smoke burning my brain/Just be yourself, don’t try to fake/I really love the way you are/I want to hug you like a coat/You’ll never wear me down. The song was written while balancing her own struggles with being able to show up for her friends and loved ones. “I had just come out of some deeply honest conversations with close friends; some who were going through really heavy, personal struggles,” she says. “I was also walking through a hard season of my own, carrying things I didn’t fully know how to talk about yet. This song emerged as a, ‘hey, I might be limping in life too, but if it’s OK with you, I’d still love to walk beside you.’”
JOURNEYGLO, folk, indie, singer-songwriter, indie rock, indie folk, new album, debut album, "Limp By Your Side", Dallas Texas, Christian music, secular music, personal reveals, poetic lyrical content, engrossing arrangements,
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