Joseph – The Sun

Alt-folk got big over a decade ago, plus sad girl pop more recently, and at times they’ve even met (like when Swift met Dessner). It can be tough to put together the traditional folk sounds with the modern pop, but can also be pulled off quite well, like on Joseph’s The Sun.

The three Closner sisters that make up Joseph range on The Sun. There are catchy pop songs such as the sorrowful title track or the more empowering following kiss-off, “Fireworks”. But there’s also natural harmonizing, like the acoustic “Three More Hours” and the airy subsequent album finish “Love Is Flowing”. They also find time for both hope in “Nervous System”, to go with growing darkness in “Tell Me About You”.

The width of sound on The Sun does mean that it can’t delve quite as deep as one might like, as you’re obviously going to enjoy some approaches more than others. But it is a great marriage of folk, pop, sadness and more.