Simon Joyner
Lost with the Lights On
(Jagjagwuar)
Simon Joyner’s world is not to be entered half-heartedly. Lost with the Lights On finds Joyner once again lurking around dark corners and deep crevasses. While he mopes with the best mopers (Elliott Smith and Nick Drake) he has a highly literate style of singing prose and a unique confidence. After nine albums you’d think the guy would cheer up—but it is pain-fully evident (from the opening line “I got sick in the rain on some holy day”) he prefers to exorcise demons that are unexorcisable.
—Dave Hayden
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.