Joanna Sternberg’s music often sounds like they’re performing a one-man show to an audience of luxury and bedroom clutter. They possess a humble loneliness that is completely devoid of charm, which of course, somehow, makes their songs helplessly charming. On I’ve Got Me, their second album and their first as a drummer and arranger, Sternberg balances raw emotion with meticulous craftsmanship. They never offer advice, just some space for emotion and self-reflection.
They favor gentleness and immediacy over bravado, creating a musical world of unparalleled temperament and tenderness. “When I look back, I look back on the years/I see all the time I wasted in tears,” they lament on “Mountains High,” belting out the notes like they’re singing in a Broadway musical. Sternberg’s deep compassion shines through I have Me. By the end of the album, they start to feel like friends—someone who is doing their best not to repeat the same mistakes, but texting you from their ex’s place in the middle of the night.
Sternberg’s 2019 debut, Then I try more drawn from a harsh palette of pain and pity, bordering on self-destruction. I have Me—true to its title—is a work of self-recovery. Almost all of her songs are written in a major key. If in their debut Sternberg indulged wholeheartedly in bad people and disastrous relationships, here, they attempt to unmask those tendencies with quietly provocative insight. “I’m so glad I met you/You helped me see/Just how much I hate myself,” they sing on “People Are Toys to You,” a withering takedown of an ex-boyfriend. “You said you stayed because you felt bad for me/How sweet of you to call me charity.”
Durability and transcendence are sometimes equated with artistic value — but that’s not the case here. On I have Me, Sternberg draws from a wider emotional range and an expanded musical vocabulary. From the percussive jangle of “People Are Toys to You” to the beloved ballad “Right Here,” their compositions are solidly scaffolded by warm acoustic guitar, Brill Building and bluegrass-inspired string flourishes, and reassuring upright bass. Whether the combination of piano combined with steel guitar on “She Dreams”, the electric guitar vamp on “Human Magnet”, or the spare strums of “Stockholm Syndrome” and “The Song”, I have Me it doesn’t sound hushed or familiar. It is right there, present, as if something obvious has suddenly been revealed to you.
from our partners at https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/joanna-sternberg-ive-got-me/
