Conversations With My Heart – E.J. (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

They say you should write about what you know, and that relatability and authenticity matter as much as the actual sonic moves of the music you make. This is certainly a truth that E.J. aspires to when making her music, as proven by the wonderful blends of heart and heartache that run through her debut Reminiscence and follow-up Love Letters. And if Conversations With My Heart follows similar themes, it is only because there is endless inspiration to be found in the affairs of the heart.

Although some of the album’s songs have already been released, and singles make a quick first impression, an album makes a more enduring one. And while those previous singles have paved a clear path to the album to come, they are far from being the whole story.

If you have been paying attention, you will have already been beguiled by the album’s opener ‘Words Only You Can Hear’, a sweet ballad that echoes through the history of soul, a song that would have been equally at home in the 50s as the nineties as it is today, a song blending deftness with delicacy, somehow unassuming yet unavoidable.

Similarly, between ‘My Starlight’s’ less-is-more elegance and ‘You Don’t Know Me’s’ ability to bring to mind the likes of Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and even Etta James in its timeless beauty, E.J. has already laid out a pretty cool calling card. This array of singles has also demonstrated perhaps the most important selling point…her voice. Never going for the obvious, the show-boating, or the overly showy, E.J.’s voice is nevertheless captivating…warm and welcoming, controlled and considered, emotive and infused with an echo of everything that has made soul and jazz, and even pop, such forces to be reckoned with.

So many of the songs here might be familiar, but as with any great album, the songs that sit between the more obvious singles are often what takes it to even greater heights. That is certainly true of Conversations With My Heart.

So we find sultry, melancholic duets such as ‘Face You’, with its gently lilting, Latin-esque feel, a gorgeous weave of serene strings and infectious beats, but also a song that understands space and atmosphere, the song’s seductive sway sounding like the waves lapping on a shoreline but lyrically a song dealing with some powerful issues of standing up for yourself, of making that necessary change in your life, even if it means facing the future alone.

And if ‘Hit the Road’ plays with a similar theme, it does so more confidently; this is the voice of someone who sees that separation as a merciful release, rather than a sad goodbye. The more driven, rock-soul vibes and distant brass billowing and bubbling on the horizon set up the perfect groove as E.J. makes her feelings abundantly clear.

Then there is ‘Love Me Gently’, which slips into some late-night liquid-pop territory, all smooth surfaces and intimate atmospherics – music for the small hours. ‘Power of My Love’ takes things somewhere considerably more expansive: an almost anthemic song, with the arrangement switching between on and off, quiet and loud, as lovelorn violins swoon through while E.J. adds a lyrical declaration meant to be shouted from the rooftops. Love, celebrated, revelled in and announced in no uncertain terms.

Matters of the heart are complex, mutable, often conflicted, and it seems that here is an album which touches on so many of its facets; though, as I said, such is the broad spectrum of such emotive expression, this is, I suspect, by no means the end of the story.

Conversations With My Heart is a perfect title for the intimate, inward themes that populate these songs. But they also remind us that those conversations with the self manifest into reality: difficult, delicate, and sometimes dark discussions. It also proves that even the most difficult and personal subjects can drive engaging, relatable, and memorable songs.

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