Third album from Newbury-based singer-songwriter Joe Hicks.  Before It Gets Dark is a cathartic set of songs, written as Joe came to terms with breakup and the death of his father.

A CATHARTIC SET OF SONGS…

We had a brief preview of what Joe Hicks had in store with his third album when More to Me, the lead single from Before It Gets Dark flipped across the At The Barrier desk about a month ago.  But, if we allowed our preconceptions to be set by that rocky, riffy foretaste, we were underestimating the feast to come.  Before It gets Dark is a widely-varied album, with only Joe’s stunning voice and his silky guitar skills providing any thread of commonality.

Before It Gets Dark is the third full-length album from Joe Hicks and it follows his earlier releases, his eponymous 2020 debut and The Best I Could Do at the Time (2022).  His music has been attracting increasing levels of acclaim – over 5 million Spotify streams and BBC Radio 2 airplay. It’s also won him slots supporting Sam Fender, Starsailor and Seafret.  What’s more, it has also drawn comparisons to the work of Paul Simon and John Mayer.

Before It Gets Dark had a difficult birth that dates back to early 2024.  At that time, Joe was living in Bristol and was going through a lengthy breakup, when his father passed away.  Left feeling directionless, Joe even contemplated packing in music altogether but, fortunately, help was at hand.  Encouraged by long-term collaborator Tom Millar and Producer Sam Winfield, Joe started to channel the emotions he was experiencing into his songwriting.  The result was Before It Gets Dark, which Joe describes as: “A cathartic set of songs, written as I came to terms with an immense amount of grief.”

A SEARCH FOR INNER PEACE

Looking back at the album, and at the emotions that went into the songs, Joe says: “The album is about feeling beaten down by modern society, uncertainty and by the things that life can throw at you.  It deals with the death of my dad, a breakup, and the darker songs are from the somewhat nihilistic ‘life is meaningless’ perspective of the world that I slipped into following those events.  This record is about coming through that and looking forward; wanting to see the world before it gets dark.”

And those sentiments are readily apparent in Time is a Thief, the album’s opening track.  Electronic sound yields to a crisp drumbeat and a solid, throbbing bassline.  Joe’s melodic voice strikes the listener from the very outset, as it soars over everything.  The song has its rocky moments when the guitars fire up, but the overall impression is one of disciplined restraint, with anguish breaking through only when Joe delivers his impassioned coda: “I wanna redefine you.”

Joe’s voice needs to be heard.  Tuneful and thoroughly alluring and peppered with bursts of falsetto, it’s his USP.  It’s the album’s outstanding feature and it illuminates every song, including The Architect, in which Joe voices his mindset, in the context of his failed romance.  And he sticks with that subject for the reflective Heart in Two.  This time, there’s a ray of hope that shines through as, with lines like: “As the tide begins to turn, there’s a change in my direction,” he starts to find a way through his inner turmoil.  But he leaves no doubt: the search for inner peace isn’t over – and, all the time, that melodic, versatile voice continues to charm.

THE FIRST VERSE JUST APPEARED…

Described as: “A love song with a twist,” If Only is a shuffling country ballad.  Drums patter and the band are cleverly subdued, leaving Joe’s voice front and centre, with the subtlest of vocal harmonies just about detectable.  It’s an early album highlight.  And so is Five Into One – another delicate ballad from the same stable.  There’s a touch of vulnerability in Joe’s voice as he asks: “On and on… What are you waiting for.”  The band sit back, until the time comes for a dramatic breakthrough – and then they rock, as we already knew they could.

As noted, we’ve already had our appetites whetted by lead single, More to Me and it’s now clear that it’s a song that grows with every listen.  It was the first song that Joe wrote for the album and it remains as something of a centrepiece.  More to Me is one of the album’s rockier affairs, driven along by chunky guitar riffs.  It’s another breakup song and Joe recently explained how the song’s lyrics came about: “One afternoon, I was driving down a single-track English country road.  It was pitch black and the rain hammering was down (it was February) and the first verse just appeared.” 

Rollercoaster is a smooth, poppy number, with yet another outstanding vocal from Joe.  The production is rich and lush with a dominant bassline, a tight drumbeat and soulful backing vocals.  It’s a song with a mid-70s feel and Joe slots in an excellent guitar solo that doesn’t stray outside the boundaries that have been laid down.

A BITTERSWEET REFLECTION

By way of contrast, the synths that provide the main accompaniment to Maybe are something of a departure.  They give the song a dreamy feel, but Joe’s vocals restore reality.  As Joe says: “This is probably the most prosody I’ve ever achieved in a song, with everything feeling like it’s working to enhance the story.”

Featuring just Joe’s voice, accompanied by his acoustic guitar, In The Silence is, by far, the album’s most intimate song.  Lines like: “I’ll stand by you, I’ll help guide you, I’ll hold you when the pain you feel is over” encapsulate the intimacy and the sparse instrumentation matches the emotion of the song perfectly.  And, at the opposite extreme, Face the Stone is probably the album’s most experimental track.  It’s intense and engaging; Joe is given lots of space to express his anguish, whilst the band are raring to go as their rocky guitar riffs take control.

And, to close the album, Joe has saved the very best until last.  Always a wise move…  Closing track, Over and Out, is an immaculately-crafted ballad and a bittersweet reflection of the good times that Joe enjoyed with his dad.  “If the world keeps turning, who’ll be left to catch me when I fall,” he sings, to a backing of beautifully balanced instrumentation and bursts of sweet strings.  It’s the song that wraps Before It Gets Dark up into a tidy, tightly-bound package.

A HOMECOMING SHOW

Joe Hicks will be launching Before It Gets Dark at a homecoming show at Arlington Arts Centre in Newbury on 11th April. Tickets for the show can be purchased here.

Watch the official video to More to Me – the album’s lead single – below:

Joe Hicks: Official Website

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