Pittsburgh musician Joy Ike performed a set of her latest folk-inspired piano pop songs for Soul Café in the Blue Bean on Wednesday, Sept. 4. Ike had also performed multiple times at Folklore Coffee & Co. in town. It was her second time playing for the Chaplain’s Office. Ike recently released her third album, “All or Nothing,” and its heavier dramatic tones reverberated across the Brossman Commons walls.
Her return prompted a change in tone since her last performance. She said that she performed at a later point in the semester the last time she was in Elizabethtown. “I noticed that there are fewer people listening, and they’re still connecting with their friends since the semester’s new. So I think I expected that,” Ike said. “But next time maybe I’ll come and do something that’s more listening room type.”
Her piano pop melodies are akin to songbirds Regina Spektor and Corinne Bailey Rae, but now she carries a more dynamic sound. An overall sense of sadness fills her stories of love gone awry.
Her thematic range switches to the power of resilience during existential crises in “How She Floats.” The song narrates the pain of learning how to live again when the cushions once relied upon fail. Her stories unveil life at its most fragile, but teaches us that it is a place where we become stronger.
Her vocals articulate the melodrama of a picture perfect life crashing on the ground, but finding the persistence to still reach down and pick up the pieces.
The elements that create such a powerful sound are in what she describes as “soulfolk.” She said that this name originated from her love of folk music and the fact that she usually performs with an upright bass player and a cellist, which gives her music that folky sound. “I also have a soulful voice,” she said, “so I think that those two things together are why I gave it that name.”
The idea for her most recent album sprouted from writing about the highs and lows that have guided her life over the past year. She recorded her journey in a blog titled, “365 Days of All or Nothing.” In the blog, she’s captured the thoughts that float around her mind, like the idea of living whole-heartedly, the theme that manifests the whole album.
She explained her process begins with instrumentation. Then, lets lingering themes build up until she can write a concrete song topic. Finally, she works in taglines or choruses and then plays around with chord progressions that compliment what she’s feeling.
Ike also provided advice for aspiring artists. “I highly recommend do what you love to do while you’re working so when you decide to leave your job, you’ll have an infrastructure to soften the blow.”
