Little Joy - The Next Time Around

Uh oh, guys, my bad. I looked at the calendar last week and my day apparently didn't register fully with me, otherwise I'd have posted in a timely fashion. I was even refreshing this page every 30 minutes or so to see if someone had written. And now, here we are...

A certain Michael Keenan digitally passed Little Joy's entire album on to me a good month ago, and since then it's gotten such frequent attention that even Jodi knows the words to nearly all of it. "The Next Time Around" is the album opener, and it stands as a perfect introduction to the rest of the record.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's a ukulele filling out the intro. My friend Travis recently told me I needed more ukulele in my life, both playing and listening. I've found myself, however consciously or unconsciously, abiding by his advice. I think we could all stand to have more ukulele in our lives.

The beach-front intro steps right into the warmly gorgeous three part harmony verse, backed with a straight forward snare, and muted, playful bass line. The focus is on the harmonizing, which gives off a relaxing, campfire singalong vibe. We're then led softly swaying in the chorus, with breezy arpeggios, and Rodrigo Amarante singing my favorite lines: "it's not enough to set the terms, if nothing venture, nothing earned / though odds are set against / in time, i'll belong to you / it's how it's meant to be." At the bridge we're greeted with some bonus Portuguese lyrics that I've yet to translate, compliments of the babely Binki Shapiro and Amarante, again.

I think this is a fun little number, and I do hope it makes y'alls day better for hearing it.

The Next Time Around