Joi Cardwell - The Art Of Being

Joi's brand of Soulful House music with thoughtful, inspirational lyrics is always welcome. She has released a handful of singles here and there in between albums. The Art Of Being is the singer-songwriter's first album in nearly 3 years. It contains a few of the singles that were released separately. This is her strongest album to date. Every single one of the songs is beautifully produced by many of the heavy hitters of clubland. All of the songs have a melodic sound that is distinctly classic but also sounds current. Joi's vocals are amazing! There are a couple of revisits to her earlier singles "Jump For Joi" and "You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else" as well. Every one of the songs is great so it is hard to choose the best ones, but "Confusion", "Return To Love", "Je T'Adore", "Shot Through The Heart", and "Lucky Charm" really stood out. All of the songs could work as singles. With the recent shift towards early 90s House sounds, this record arrives at just the right time.

 Tracklisting:
1. Lucky Charm (Quentin Harris Production)
2. Return to Love (Director's Cut Mix)
3. Confusion (NovoGain Production)
4. Love Somebody Else (Maceo Plex & John Dasilva Mix)
5. Shot Through the Heart
6. Indian Giver
7. I Just Wanna (Kraak & Smaak)
8. Sweet Sadness (Mlle Lucy Mix)
9. Je T'adore (Life+ Mix)
10. Feels Like Heaven
11. Music Saved My Life (Maurice Joshua Mix)
12. Jump 4 Joi (Mike Cruz Radio Mix)
13. Jump 4 Joi (J Zuart Remix)

Purchase the album here (iTunes) and here (Juno) [Juno has it in lossless DJ friendly/collector format]

Grade: A+