Album Review: Juanita Stein - 'The Weightless Hour'
Juanita Stein shares a class in minimalism with her fourth solo LP, ‘The Weightless Hour’, which revels in the strength of restraint.
The project is solitary. Juanita joined long-term collaborator Ben Hillier with a “subconscious choice” to make an album that required no band. The result is beautiful Americana with no drums, just keys, guitars and vocals. This is not Howling Bells - these chimes are much more haunting. And every sound, every choice, has earned its place.
“We’re living in the weightless hour, no ties to bind.” From the ethereal opening words of the title track, Juanita sets out her world of gorgeous three-minute soundscapes. It’s her story, told with the nuance of her voice and the profoundness of her lyrics. Later, she muses: “We’re in it for the weightlessness or not at all.”
Single ‘Mother Natures Scorn’ – “she knows no limits” – is about humanity’s scorching of the earth, and apathy amidst the eco-crisis. Sample lyric: “I know it’s a damning revelation losing your soul. I feel your resignation, but who of us will take back control.” She broaches the topic without campaigning, in the longest track on the album, which evokes a distant musical memory with its guitars.
Juanita’s personal history shines brightly in an understated way. ‘The Game’ is a beautifully crafted reflection on the never-ending nights and young adventures of her Howling Bells days. It is an opportunity to exorcise old demons as she sings: “I miss the sound of wheels on the floor, driving til late, talking til four. Long nights on Old Street, stumbling on concrete. It’s just the game.” The mother of two daughters, she’s utilised her experiences to consider the idea of legacy. “Baby, you were just a little girl. Now you’re a woman, have you learned. It’s just the game.”
But history can also be older and heavier. ‘Old World’ is a country song where Juanita reckons with her Jewish ancestry amidst European brutality 80 years ago. Her grandmother was forced from her hometown of Prague by the Nazis when she was a teenager, and Juanita’s visit from Australia in her own youth left a confusion of feelings in the wake of Europe’s dark history. “You cried “Bloody American” with my ripped jeans. As I walked the crooked graves of Prague at sixteen.”
‘Carry Me’ is a thematic companion to ‘Old World’. Written in one sitting while overlooking a Tuscan vineyard during 2020’s lockdown, she described it as “one of the most fluid and magical songwriting experiences I’ve ever had” – despite the 35-degree heat. It flowed out of her in that surreal time, and remains deeply reflective in a call with the title words to carry one’s self.
The second half is similarly soulful, as intricate as a spider’s web, carried with Juanita’s beautiful voice. There’s the art of ‘Motionless’, about being broken inside. She’s left yearning, asking: “Does it ever feel like walking on quicksand?” And there are more glimpses of light when it all feels darkest with the First Aid Kit-esque ‘Daily Rituals’. In it, she considers how our routines are interrupted, while singing: “I am light as a cloud, and nothing, nothing will bring me down. It’s not the short, sharp, shock of the thing, but the cold, staggered crash of reality.”
The only time another voice emerges is on the penultimate track, ‘Driving Nowhere’. A duet with Northern Irish artist Pat Dam Smyth, it recollects a relationship without direction or destination as she sings: “I’m just along for the ride.” With Pat carrying a weight like Matt Berninger from The National, their voices merge to evoke a bygone world.
In promotional material for the album, Juanita said: “I think making records is a really powerful way of letting go of experiences. I’m allowing myself to kiss things goodbye.” She bids farewell to this project with the soothing ‘Delilah’, as she sings: “Stories on stories to tell and no regrets.” Concluding with another peaceful minute of beautiful music, it is setting the scene one last time, as it has done repeatedly over the past half an hour.
‘The Weightless Hour’ is a human document, sharing chapters of Juanita Stein’s life with storytelling like short stories, setting the scene, and revelling in character. Even the simplest stories can encompass complex lives – no need for other narratives. And after years of adapting to masculine spaces, she’s found a way to subvert her sound, let her femininity thrive, and get her name in the production credits.
Weightlessness can mean different things. If you have had a tricky 2024, or even if you just need a respite from chaos, put this on, and you’re taken off into another world. Even if it takes you nowhere, half an hour of solace can still be more than satisfactory.
This is nothing like ‘Radio Wars’. The new album is a challenging record, but one that rewards from beginning to end. One song might be called ‘Old World’, but it’s more timeless. In it, Juanita sings: “Images of poetry penetrate these walls”. It rings true for every minute of ‘The Weightless Hour’.
Words by Samuel Draper
