Single Review: 27 Years of Plan by Joel Jamea

By Drummer Vince Leigh (Pseudo Echo, John Farnham, Tina Arena)

27 Years Of Plans

When Joel James sings the lines, ‘It’s time I let the sun in / So I can orbit around and around and around and around’, on his latest single, 27 Years Of Plans, it comes after a series of self-reflective lines that reveal an emotional rollercoaster.

As the Australian singer-songwriter says about his latest track, ‘This song is a celebration of failure and the freedom it can bring! Throughout my whole career, I thought that if I didn’t succeed by the time I turn twenty-seven, then I won’t succeed at all. Recently I turned twenty-seven, and nothing has changed. I’m still making music and gigging every day. The only thing that has changed is that the weight of pressure to succeed by a certain age is now gone! Ironically this ‘failure’ has restored my love for music, and my self-love too.’

Joel is an all-rounder, a self-taught musician, producer, engineer, and skilled vocalist. His latest track, 27 Years Of Plans, is an interestingly uplifting pop-rock tune with an engaging lyric and loads of melodic hooks. Perhaps one of the most alluring elements of Joel’s new release is his vocal performance, which transmutes smoothly from intimate to ebullient, reflecting the complex nature of the lyric. A regular on the Melbourne pub scene, some of Joel’s influences include the old songs he grew up listening to from his parents’ music collection, drawing inspiration from them and rewriting them in his style: a modern direction with vintage intentions.

The track opens with a vital, stripped-back section that reappears later in the song. This melodic tag appears before the first chorus, cleverly harnessed as an introductory component. The arrangement also has a few surprises, as it uses dynamics to create balance and change throughout the song, from submission to reality in the verses to a light-hearted acceptance in the chorus, all merged into an upbeat, quite a joyful tone.

27 Years Of Plans is sure to become Joel James’ break-out song, undoubtedly generating a lot of streaming and radio interest. 

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