Description

East My Love, the resplendent, country-tinged 12th album by Current Joys, feels familiar. Its meant to: the 12 songs contained within dive deep into the rich folklore of the American West to tell time-worn tales of love and trauma, heartbreak and spiritual renewal. Cast with a warm glow and finding Current Joys Nick Rattigan tapping into some of his lushest, most high-fidelity production to date, its the kind of album that listeners could see themselves within and, hopefully, keep close when theyre most in need of reassurance or escapism. For Rattigan, though, its all that and more.

Rattigan wrote East My Love alone in the woods in Tennessee, with no cell reception and nobody in earshot for miles. Composed three years before Love + Pop, the experimental pop double record he released in 2023 and 2024, the songs on East My Love felt too raw to confront until he felt well and truly out from underneath the cloud that had been cast over him.

Rattigan describes the songs as landmines that, for years, threatened to upend his carefully balanced mental state. They were just triggers that would put me back in this emotional space, and I think eventually I got to a place where they were more comforting, he recalls. Thats what I hope people find out of the record a solace from any anxieties or depressions.

Along with that comfort comes pain, and an acknowledgement that any repair requires some level of breakage. Lead track California Rain acts like a tableau depicting Rattigans attempt to escape his demons, its placid lyrics a distinct counterpoint to the tidal-wave production: Isnt it nice to get away? / Clearing my head up, and dull away the pain. It speaks to the albums constant coin toss between peace and chaos: Its like youre trying to outrun your demons, but at a certain point, they become your friend, and you have to walk alongside them, says Rattigan. I feel like you dont know that when youre suppressing them when youre hiding them in the rain.

At other points, Rattigan is more clear-eyed about the struggle of moving forward; opening track Echoes of the Past, aches with the acknowledgement that inner peace exists on a knifes edge. The world wont end in blazing fire and brimstone itll end from us not learning from our past and our mistakes, says Rattigan.

Theres a purity of catharsis that runs through these songs; written without pretence, they take base human needs and desires and fit them into a grander tradition of American songwriting that takes in everything from Willie Nelson to Bright Eyes. True to that, many of the songs on East My Love, due to their outside-looking-in perspective, play like standards. On Lullaby for the Lost, which feels parched but emotionally rich, he urges himself to remember that well get oh so strong despite the depths of despair he may be feeling in the moment. I wanted it to be very slow and meditative, with these punctuations of lyrics that I really wanted to stick out. I felt like it was powerful to accentuate certain points, but also let the song be a meditative comfort to the listener. That comfort can be traced back to an idea at the core of East My Love that Rattigan describes simply: Everyone deserves peace of mind.

LP available on Olive Green coloured vinyl and black vinyl.