Life is not the same as it was. We are not the same. Many of us are emerging from the darkness of the last two years, and stepping bravely into a new life, a new world.
IV, the latest full-length release of singer-songwriter and composer Joel Van Horne, professionally known as Covenhoven, is a soundtrack for our new world. It’s a reckoning of the darkness we’ve found. It’s a work brimming with hope and light. There’s a cohesive message coursing through the twelve gorgeously crafted songs: that though we’ve all moved through unimaginable pain and loss, life still has so much beauty to offer.
We gave your ashes to the soil and grass
Where time has nothing more to do but pass
Where all the wild blooms are blue and gold
With nothing more to be, but beautiful
Nothing Left to Be – Covenhoven
It’s hard to name a standout on this album; every song is as strong as the next. But something about “Monterey” is irresistibly enticing. Titled after the Central California coastal city, the driving beat recalls the rhythm of the road on a nighttime car trip. “This one felt like it kind of wrote itself… the words are like snapshots of the many moments captured of my touring through that part of the country,” says Van Horne. “It’s also the first song I began recording for IV, and the many months that it sat waiting when the pandemic hit I think gave me a better perspective on what it wanted to be.”
In an interview with Westword late last year, Van Horne noted that he didn’t set out to make a pandemic record – the songs were already finished and production on the album was slated to begin early in 2020. But recording the project during lockdown inevitably contributed to some of the work’s character. “There’s a different mood that comes through on it that was very much that moment in time,” Van Horne told Westword. “I was speaking more openly about how I really feel.”
Van Horne’s songwriting is contemplative and introspective, yet accessible enough that most any listener can recognize their own stories in between the lines. His warm, ever-so-slightly textured vocals feel close and present, as though he’s singing just for you. Throughout the album, the rich, thoughtful production finds exactly the right moments to be grand, so as to elevate us from a place of melancholy to a place of wild hope.
Produced by Van Horne and The Fray’s Ben Wysocki, IV is exceptionally listenable, using recurring musical sounds like Spanish-flavored nylon string guitar and reverberant piano as connective threads throughout the album. Lush vocal harmonies add otherworldly beauty to every track, always a delight for the ear and always supporting the story being told.
It’s the unexpected drum rhythms and unconventional lyrical phrasing of Van Horne’s vocals that really caught my ear, however. “I play drums and am really fascinated with rhythm and think a lot about it when I write,” the multi-instrumentalist said. “Not all, but many of the grooves for this album I came up with first, and the song came second, based on the feel.”
This unique songwriting method (many songwriters begin with melody, a chord progression or lyrics) results in surprising delights like the rare 7/4 time signature of “Tall Buildings” or the smart, syncopated drum patterns of “Gone With the Wind,” masterfully executed by drummers/percussionists Wysocki and Carl Sorenson.
Van Horne says of his songwriting process: “I would sit at the drum set and press record, then play different patterns that I found interesting. When something exciting happened then I would grab a guitar or sit at the piano and start dreaming up what that part might be. All that being said, these grooves and ideas in the hands of Wysocki and Sorensen took on new life and were fully realized through their musical lenses and unique skills.”
Brilliantly mixed by Andrew Berlin, listeners can relish every sonic element thoughtfully selected to support the stories within the songs, such as string parts that will most certainly tug at your heart. Each musical layer plays together with the others to create ethereal soundscapes as majestic as Colorado’s rugged peaks. Background vocal contributions from Gregory Alan Isakov and local veteran Megan Burtt round out this mastery of modern music that transcends its folk roots.
Available to stream anywhere you listen to music as well as on Covenhoven’s own website, I highly recommend living with IV for a while. I promise something within you will be transformed. Feelings will stir, and you’ll find yourself immersed in gratitude and love. Also a rare treat, the lyrics for every song on IV are accessible on his website.
When Van Horne takes the Soundpost Sessions stage on May 14th, he will play a solo set of songs from all his albums, sharing intimate stories and pulling you close into his world of beauty. As Coloradans, we may claim Covenhoven as our own, but he has the chops to become one of America’s most revered artists and songwriters. This could be one of your last chances to catch him in a listening room environment like this one.
Read more about Covenhoven and IV:
Covenhoven: Nothing Left to Be but Beautiful – Westword
REVIEW: Covenhoven “IV” – Americana Highways
Covenhoven returns to eTown Hall with heart-felt folk, new album – Daily Camera
