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The great thing about Clay Joule’s music-making is that it goes far beyond the remit of merely making music. While others are interested in just having a hit, he is more focused on broadcasting a message. If some are concerned with making the charts, he seeks dialogue with the masses. And where some are playing the game for personal fame, fortune and everything that goes with it, he is looking to help usher in a better world. And that is a powerful and poignant and purposeful place to position yourself.
Musically, there is always more going on than there needs to be. Even some of his more obvious songs, those built on groove and infectiousness, feel like better value for money than the pop and rock market is used to, are more than the sum of their parts and are woven to a higher degree than they might otherwise need to be. And if it sounds as if I’m calling such tracks over-engineered, actually, the opposite is true, I’m suggesting that they set new benchmarks for others to follow. And that is called having integrity – creating music which goes above and beyond the requirements to do the job. If these factors are always prevalent in Clay Joule’s work, then never were those integrities and authenticity more obvious than with his latest single, “Integral King.”
Sonically, this is a fantastic musical journey and musical journey – generally such an overused term – is a perfect description. Clay adds various sonic layers as the song travels, rising from a beguiling and ancient sound that feels ritualistic more than songlike to an enchanting piece of cross-cultural anthemics. The most striking and immediate element is Elisa Mammoliti’s soundscaping and ethereal vocal textures (which might sound a bit of a lofty description, again, it is a case that her input here hits heights that others would shy away from.).
But between Clay and Tindaro Raffaelle the music also grows into graceful and understated world music blends, bringing the arabesque and exotic together with the sounds of South Asia, the Far East and the New World, the occident and the Orient together in a strange and satisfying sonic dance.
As always, the words have so much to say, reminding us that the mortal powers-that-be, our elected (though often otherwise) leaders, our politicians and would-be prophets do not have the divine authority that they often claim to act the way they do.
“Integral King” is more than a song; it is a warning. As more and more leaders start treating the world as a personal power game, a way of pushing their own desires and exercising their own ego, as those dark clouds gather and affect us all, we must resist and do so in the strongest possible terms.
