Not Even Happiness

Not Even Happiness is set in a bed of quietly fingerpicked guitar, subtle strings, and delicate vocals. Fans of Suzanne Vega, Priscilla Ahn, or Joan Baez can relax here – but only to a point, because the murmured reveries are rescinded by the shrieking squeaks of Byrne’s fingers on her strings. This amateur production mistake remands this otherwise pleasant album to the “itchy listen” bin. You may argue, “But doesn’t that make it more real?” Don’t even . . .

Everything about this album is pure gold. Julie’s voice is heavenly and the songs are so poetic.Do yourself a favor and buy this album.

Rare combination of masterful songwriting, deep lyrics, hauntingly beautiful voice, and brilliant recording. If folk-songwriter music is your thing, this should be at the top of your list.

Would like more diversification in lyrics and tone.For what it is it was nicely done.

i love this artist and i LOVE this album. the vinyl works great, no skips or pauses at all!

Soft, melodic, entrancing, soulful.

BEAUTIFUL CD MOST AUTUMNAL LOVE HER VOICE AND ARRANGEMENTS ALSO THE GUITAR PLAYING

I love this album, I love the compositions, the sound and engineering, her voice- everything! One of the best new albums I've heard in quite awhile and I've acquired a few thousand...thanks for the beautiful art!!!

Julie has produced a lovely autumnal reflective album, largely just herself with a finger picking acoustic guitar, and a deep slightly husky quiet voice, with no histrionics on show. There are a few gentle background string arrangements as embellishment, but overall it is pretty stripped down production . She has been on the road, moving from place to place across America over previous couple of years, never staying anywhere for too long and putting her roots down. Overall there is a melancholy feeling, it seems she has not yet found the peace and love or place that she is looking for to settle down, there is a restlessness, trying to seek something special .Overall it is a short album, only some 32 minutes long, including a short instrumental interlude track in the middle, so you only get 8 actual songs. However if the quantity contained here is low, the quality is high, all beautiful stuff. To me it feels like immersing yourself in a warm scented bath and letting it slowly seep in and calm you down, drifting away on the imagery and gentle vibes.There are lots of references to travelling, crossing the country, solitude , being on tour, she seems to be seeking permanence in terms of place and a loving relationship , not surprising given her recent lifestyle. To counterbalance this there are many positive references to the calming effects of the natural world, from clouds passing over; stars; sun; sky; walking in the woods, the moon, the sea, and sitting in a garden.Having only listened to this album a couple of times so far, the early standout tracks for me are Sleepwalker and in particular the pinnacle of Natural Blue which is the album highlight for me. I think this will be disc that will grow in stature with repeated listening, and reveal more of itself with greater familiarity, but from early impressions it has created a relaxed introspective mood that goes down very nicely, thank you.

This Cd is pretty good. Bit like a female Leonard Cohen . Music not as poignant though.

I'd never heard of this woman until amazon sugested it to me. This is an amazing piece of work. Incredible. Just lay back and relax. Im a new fan.

Beautiful, melancholic sound

Sometimes I am not in the right mood for her, but when I am I love it! Graham.

What a voice...!

Come descrivere questo album? Canzoni pregne di dolcissima tristezza. Che ti cullano che ti rallentano i pensieri e i passi. Che si distaccano dalla frenesia del mondo. Talento enorme, Julie, un potenziale ancora non espresso pienamente. Ma datele una possibilità. E immergetevi nelle sue storie.

Confermo pienamente il giudizio positivo. Non conoscevo Julie Byrne, cd comprato "sulla fiducia" basandomi sulla recensione di una rivista hifi.Avercene di dischi così !

Great album, would recommend this to anyone.

Bon album mais qui peine à se différencier

One of my favorite CDs of 2017.

pur bonheur acoustique.

Brilliant with quick delivery would use againThanks

leggendo la recensione sul venerdì di repubblica sembrava un capolavoro , invece...In effetti c'è un bell' impasto tra una calda voce e una suggestiva chitarra acustica ma francamente quando hai sentito la prima canzone le altre sembrano tutte uguali.A dire il vero un po' meglio la chitarra della voce.Comunque piacevole, da tenere in sottofondo mentre fai qualcosa d'altro.Marco

There's a certain way to sing sad songs and this lacks something big! I found that each track was nearly the same as the previous one and thus lost interest on the first play, not a good sign! Then I thought, a slow burner but the second and third play left me cold, there was no range in the singing style, no grab of my attention, as lyrics, singing and music left me wondering why did I even buy it!It was bought so I could break out of my usual go to singers and musicians but this buy would have be running back to that limited band,Not to my liking but I believe others may get it!