Colorado singer-songwriter navigates the ‘difficult’ sophomore release with ease.
This writer had the pleasure of reviewing Jobi Riccio’s debut album, Whiplash, in 2023 (here), and ended the piece in the hope and expectation that the talent on show on the debut album would be repeated on future outings. And, indeed, it is, here on her sophomore release, Face the Feeling. Whereas Whiplash was an exploration of Riccio moving from adolescence to adulthood and detailing issues with her sexuality, Face the Feeling moves on to confronting her emotional development and absorbing her conflicting emotions as part of the growing process. She also tackles politics in the angry Wildfire Season, written just after Trump’s second presidential election victory, about the climate crisis being ignored by our leaders.
For some part, the album reflects Riccio’s indie-rock influences, as she uses her electric guitar skills to layer more depth onto the songs. And, instead of the one fiddle on her debut, the soundscape is broadened by the use of a string trio (violin, viola and cello) on most of the tracks. Vocally, she is little changed from her debut, with the previous influences of Joni Mitchell and Sheryl Crow on show, and she often sounds like another excellent emerging female singer-songwriter, Jess Jocoy. She has a warm, distinctive voice.
The album starts with the lovely, yearning A Little At A Time, about a long-distance relationship, and its attendant difficulties. The aforementioned strings really embellish this song. The Ridge lifts the pace a little on a song about finding peace, connecting with nature to explore inner feelings. Another nature-oriented retreat is offered in Pilar, NM, as a place to confront honest feelings, in this case, about the difficulty of the musician’s lifestyle. Love of the Song was written in Riccio’s early days in Nashville and looks at the big city overload.
Buzzkill is pure upbeat indie rock, what happens when your adulthood arrives and is stymied by a pandemic, and adolescence is extended “But now I’m 25 / And I’m still barely scraping by / So baby I have been a buzzkill”. The aforementioned Wildfire Season is a cry from the heart, “And I’m not immune to positivity / But it’s dangerously close / To complacency / And you never miss your water / ‘Til your well runs dry / And you see the ash / Falling from the sky”.
Coyote is a hark back to the debut album and looks for answers to an unrequited queer affection. The album has several highlights, the highest of which is Idaho, a beautiful love song, “the first I wrote”, where Riccio describes what she looks for in an unconditional love, with a heavy Joni Mitchell vocal influence, and dominated by Riccio’s acoustic guitar and the gorgeous string trio. High Beam is another highlight featuring just voice and acoustic guitar, a song about heartbreak, but how the hurt is mitigated by compassion for the initiator, “So if you meet / Another heart like mine / Even if life and timing / And planets don’t align / Let them in / At least try / Cause love with open hands / Is getting harder to find”.
Easy completes a trio of gorgeous ballads, a vocal tour de force with swirling strings and B3 organ providing some lovely colouring in the background. The closer Doesn’t Matter is a powerful indie rock ballad with interesting electric guitar riffs from Riccio and guitarist Isaiah Beard (one of two co-producers with Riccio, the other being Jesse Timm), and a defiant rhythmic ending from Dom Billet on drums and Paul Defiglia on bass, excellent throughout.
The difficult sophomore album is no more for Riccio. This lovely album demonstrates a step forward in songwriting for this alumna of the esteemed Berklee School of Music in Boston, and winner of the John Prine Songwriting Fellowship, and it places her comfortably in the emerging talent pool of outstanding female singer-songwriters. A fine album of emotional depth and honest self-examination.
