Tom Jolu has a particular ability to bring listeners along with him as he looks back, forward or is simply present. His third studio album, Fools, Friends, And the Great Beyond, truly feels like you're on the road with the band. Wheels turning on the van, eating cheap rest stop food, sleeping on couches, creating moments that might seem trivial or standard but stick with you long after.
Stay Sharp, Sunshine feels like Tom is asking us to sit down with him and reflect on the past. The album opens with ocean sounds and what seems to be an innocent, almost adolescent, organ sound. It feels, at first, very sweet and sincere but slowly devolves into what feels like an on-coming nightmare.
The album carefully walks us through intimate songs that explore a relationship that has come and gone. The intimate songs on this album are awash reverb and ethereal textures using instruments like banjo, acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, piano, organ and synth.
The second track on the album, "No Regrets," really stands out. The instrumentation in the first two thirds of the song is very reminiscent of what Tom does as a solo musician. Acoustic guitar, tambourine/shaker, kick drum, add in some ethereal vocals and a lovely glockenspiel, you would have no idea where the last third of the song is going. The ninety degree turn, something I am sucker for in song writing, slowly creeps in with a beautiful tremolo guitar, distant drums that give the rest of the song this sloshing feeling. Like you’re in the ocean just letting the current move you, not struggling, not fighting back just accepting.
The peaks and valleys throughout this album really make it feel like a full journey, so take some time to sit down with Tom and go on this journey with him.