Wesley Joseph - Forever Ends Someday

Ostensibly a debut album – although 2023’s ‘GLOW’ certainly possessed the runtime to make a decent claim at that status – there’s a candid confidence that runs through ‘Forever Ends Someday’ that, were it not for the years between Wesley Joseph’s introduction and now, would be said to belie his status as a debutant. And, where its (possible) predecessor jumped between styles in a sometime disparate manner, this time around there’s a far more fluid connection between sounds – which at its darkest finds Wesley’s singing voice literally drowning amid layers of distorted, echoey guitar sounds on ‘Seasick’, and at its smoothest uses a ‘70s Motown-inspired palette for an earworm on ‘White Tee’.

It’s that latter point where a thread can be drawn through the record; while his lyrics point to a full emotional gamut – the refrain of “least I could do is sing for you” on reflective opener ‘Distant Man’; the ruminating “If time could talk / It’d say nothing but I told you so” that drives ‘If Time Could Talk’; the regret of “I’d give you the world / If I knew what it cost me”; the suggestive “Shadows / Playing puppetry” of ‘Shadow Puppet’ – it’s his keen ability to weave a subtle earworm that is the record’s cornerstone. Whether via the call-and-response between his dual vocal lines on ‘If Time Could Talk’ and its soft R&B inflection, the almost boyband-level self-soothing backing vocals of standout ‘Shadow Puppet’ or even a repetitive noodly synth in place of any vocal hook on ‘Manuka’, it’s never immediate, but increasingly evident that under layers of sound and leftfield production choices (see what sounds like the lighting of a cigarette on ‘Blinded’; the sample of chatter at the end of ‘Distant Man’) there’s a keen pop songwriting nous.

The almost diaristic nature of the tracks here are further underlined by the choice of guest stars: longtime pal and collaborator Jorja Smith takes a turn on the wistful ‘July’, and in an almost mirror image, ‘Peace Of Mind’ - which juxtaposes a guest verse from Danny Brown with a soft loop of vocal ‘mmm’s and strings - has Wesley fully present: “Now I’m shining / Like I’m Kubrick”. To deem ‘Forever Ends Someday’ a grower might be a little disingenuous, as if there’s nothing to grab onto on first listen. But be sure, once immersed in its many hooks, they’ll be difficult to shake off.