KATHRYN JOSEPH – FOR YOU WHO ARE THE WRONGED
Within moments of What Is Keeping You Alive commencing, the indescribably rich atmosphere completely enwraps around you, and that’s you fixated; Kathryn entering the picture shortly after with her trademark angelic voice, softly confiding the lyrics which loop and spin inside your head. The Burning Of Us All is so cold and chilling in every respect, sinking deep as it reflects on the disgusting gaslighting and exploitation that certain men use to control vulnerable women while also getting away scot-free with those actions.
The quietness that defines Only The Sound Of The Sea has you still and engrossed while Kathryn divulges into how much she desperately wants to see loved ones find a ray of hope that can change their lives for the better. There are multiple layers to the instrumentation of How Well You Are which creates a broad sonic sensation that has you practically feeling afloat, almost lifting you off your chair.
The chorus of Until The Truth Of You rings so empathically, primarily due to Kathryn pushing her stupendous vocal chops to the absolute limit, then in The Harmed, we witness her plead to everybody struggling with mental health issues, trauma or anything similar to speak up and let their voice be heard, in order to seek help and support from those willing, and not instead be dragged down the hole any further which could lead to fatal consequences, and Kathryn in fact appoints herself as such an abettor in the back-to-back pieces Your Open Wounds and Flesh And Blood, striving to strip away from victims everything that has caused them pain.
Of All The Broken features a memorable melody and a vivid burst of life while again Kathryn broadcasts her concern and sympathy for the hurt, and in the following title track, Kathryn wants to make it abundantly clear to those survivors that everything that they have endured, it is not their fault and they shouldn’t feel guilty about the events which transpired out of their hands, and afterwards we finish off with the wonderfully luminous and stellular Long Gone.
What truly can we said about the 2015 SAY Award winner that the rest of the world hasn’t already proclaimed by this point? Kathryn Joseph can’t be justice through simple words, she’s consistently released material that is beyond amazing, yet somehow with For You Who Are The Wrong, she’s excelled past her already superlative previous works, it’s a tour de force.
Sonically, the music seems to exist on this astral plane in an alternative dimension that exists outwith our own, which very few other artists in the Scottish scene can recreate, with such rare examples including Cloth, Elisabeth Elektra and our recently fallen and very much missed friend Heir Of The Cursed.
Lyrically, it’s some of the most powerful stuff I’ve ever heard in my entire life; no exaggeration; with Kathryn putting her heart and inner emotions on the line, exclaiming how much of an unfair world this is where those of pure soul are allowed to be battered and beaten, often without a just resolution, and that fact is quick to set in and makes me want to cry.
Kathryn Joseph is a one of a kind special artist, and very much like a surrogate mother to us all who need that sense of warmth and comfort.
SMALL MUSIC SCENE 