Return Of The Dragonfly

When I was first introduced to Joshua's music, I was but 13 and had won a copy of his first album "Painted Desert Serenade". From the very moment I finished listening I knew this was an artist whose career I would follow. He writes fresh melodies and sings them only as he can. He tells us a story in each song, an art lost to most artists out there. The unfortunate thing is most music lovers out there have too lost the appriciaion for this art. In a time where rap artists are ripping off old and current pop hits and country musicians are doing the same, Joshua's music is a breath of fresh air to me.

You won't find this album in stores because Joshua no longer is contracted with a studio. But his music doesn't suffer. Through the magic of the internet he can continue his trade and we can continue to enjoy and listen. This isn't actually the first of these internet only albums, please feel free to check out "The Venice Beach Sessions".

Anyway, on to the actual review:

01 "Butterflies": This is a very metaphorical song. He compares love's effects with the change of the catapilliar to the butterfly. What love makes us do-makes us change about ourselves to keep it. The very shy of us may become the life of the party for love, that kind of thing. It's a message that I feel, as I have had many relationships in which this is true. The song's message is further about how some changes we've made are not always for the better, but in each new relationship we apply the lessens we've learned from the last. As always, Joshua plays the piano magnificently and his voice is pleasant to listen to.

02 "Let It Break Your Heart": This is classic Joshua, the arragment of the insruments is great-piano is absent to my ears, but it's fine because what's here works well together. Plus Joshua tells us another story here. It's about Belthasar and his struggle with love and his heart break as he tells another lost soul not to give up. I think the message here is very similar to "Butterflies": Let your heart get broken if it must, but don't give up; move forward. You'll notice Joshua references the dragonfly in this song. He has mentioned it in another song on a different album before too. That song is "Begging for Grace" from "Vanishing America". The fourth track on this very album I consider a "sequel" to that song, but this is the albums first use of the word in these songs.

03 "Madman's Lullaby": Thematically we continue with love but the variation here is the futility of love sometimes, the mad-like feeling of wanting love. Our character here has someone he's in love with and is musing with them on this subject. It is implied to me that his love has perhaps lost what he still wants or has and he is trying to remind his love of that feeling that got them to this point. An alternate interpreation of this is our character has an imagined love and is madly proclaiming to all that will hear his song about it. In any case, I like the sound of this song. It's soothing and performed well.

04 "Return of the Dragonfly": Has the same title as the album and as I pointed out above in song 2, I consider this a "sequel" of sorts to another of Joshua's songs. Taken as a stand alone song though it would seem to be about a man who is lost his purpose in the world. He had lost love, hope and his direction. The dragonfly returning represents for him the renewal of all these things for him. If we look at it as the sequel to "Begging for Grace", this character is the man in the asylum who met the sucidal woman who believed "the Dragonfly Queen" would be returning to see her. For her that was a symbol of her freedom from the asylum and a return to a normal life. She asked the man that should he see the queen first, to "tell her I'm waiting for my wings" (a representation of freedom). If this song is indeed the follow up, the man being the same one in "Begging for Grace" seems to fit. Listen for yourself and you be the judge. All that aside, the song's guitar and piano combo work well together and the song is pleasant to listen to.

05 "Space Boy": This song doesn't quite go away from the love theme, but we hear a rhodes piano and some strings here and it sounds quite different from Joshua's other songs. But the song comes through nicely. It tells the story of an alien coming down from space and his eye is caught by this woman. He wants to find the "secret of the universe". But he sees a much bigger mystery in love and is trying to understand it. Could love be in fact the secret to the universe he was actually seeking? The woman here seems to think so, "Everyone is a secret to the universe", she tells him. This song is relaxing like all the others, but the fresh sound to it adds something special to it.

06 "The Golden Cage": This song has a nice melody to it and it's another metaphorical one. The caged bird in the golden cage here is actually really the princess. She is the main character of this piece and is expressing how she cannot sing her love to the man she loves. Her father, the king, has forbidden the love of this person. The priestess of the song is obviously a good friend of the princess and is praying she doesn't give up her love of the one she loves, and is hoping that she one day sings her song of love. She is also hoping the king and all others that would not approve of this would change their minds; and the princess, her love, and these people get along together. As the closing song of this release, it speaks of love and faith, hope and courage, and allowing true love to blossom without caging it.

Overall, a great album and I am eagerly awaiting Joshua's next album. He's currently on tour in Germany, but he promises much more music to come after this. I recommend Joshua's new album to newcomers who like music with a positive message and fans, who like me, have been there from the start or joined in later. If you listen I believe you will be glad you did.