Taken from Jim Chorley’s seminal Acoustic Americana release Let the Truth Be Known, the standout single, Time to Learn, refuses to posture itself as it proves how introspective a stripped-back yet intuitively profound melody can be. Even the harmonica blows ache with longing as they cry over the steady rhythmic pulse of the quiescently affecting release. With the quivering vibrato in his roots-deep vocals, the singer-songwriter transforms Time to Learn from an auditory experience into a crushing session of realisation of how prevalent it is for people to tear themselves apart through introspection until all that is left are shards deemed too unlovable.
The Southampton-hailing songwriter is starting to make a legacy by extending unfiltered vignettes of emotional weathering; Time to Learn may just be his most emotively worn down release yet. Anchored by an unshowy snare and adorned with gently strummed acoustic guitar, soul-wrung vocals, and electric motifs that hover like faded memories, Time to Learn follows Chorley into the darkest folds of his self-narrative. From the pleading line “How can I love with a broken heart” to the scarred reflection of “How can I ever find myself, when my heart has burned to bone”, there’s no denial, no evasion. Just the raw confrontation of years spent avoiding the act of self-love, finally giving way to an emboldened epiphany in the closing confession, “I’ve never known how to love myself, but now’s my time to learn.”
Time to Learn is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud.
Review by Amelia Vandergast