When Joni says that “pain is the price you pay for loving someone” it’s coming from a place of deep experience. Having relocated to London from LA with her long-term partner, and closest musical collaborator, the singer-songwriter suddenly found herself thrust into a deeply unsettling break-up, one that left her isolated in a brand new country, and also one that pulled back the curtain on a host of unhealthy patterns she had become accustomed to within the relationship.
Her striking new album, Things I Left Behind, is a document of the journey between both the before and after, and is as deeply personal and powerfully moving as such a snapshot suggests. Formed of ten new songs, the album embraces its imperfections, taking its dues from the likes of Feist, Sparklehorse and Daniel Johnston, and is as much a story of personal growth and the courage of convictions, as it is one of heartbreak and turmoil.