Album Review: William Prince, Stand In The Joy

The new William Prince album has a dense, hot, closeness—an intimacy, and a softness, almost whispering, never above the volume of a normal speaking voice. The work rewards careful listening, and seems so cautious and careful, that hearing it, there is a frisson–almost wondering if one is allowed to listen. In the best places, it resembles Conway Twitty, where the production grows into the voice, operating mutually, growing together, impeccably decorative–on the edge of pretty, almost sublimely beautiful. 

This sounds like easy listening at its best but complicates and widens what it means to be intimate, in relationship to certain landscapes, and the divine. I am thinking of the song "Pasadena”, where the velvet burl of his voice rambles through living in East Nashville, and a time where he went “past Pasadena, down Mexico”, and how he cannot “go back to Kansas without you in my arms''. It might be his best song. Or, when he talks to God, in “Peace of Mind”, where he mentions that he “don't need a mansion on Wellington, so long as I a mansion on the hill”. The elegant parallelism, the small intimacy of the maxim, does not preach, but has a deep commitment to another kind of relationship. 

The album rewards deep, careful listening, and complex feelings–but mostly it has a centering, calming presence. The density marked by an affection for his subjects, and the genre. Prince goes from strength to strength, and this continues his welcome presence.

Stand In The Joy was released April 14, 2023 on Six Shooter Records.
Listen to it here.