{"id":14555,"date":"2020-08-17T15:20:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T05:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mag.atomicmusic.space\/?p=14555"},"modified":"2020-08-17T15:20:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T05:20:00","slug":"joel-closes-life-chapter-with-a-cocktail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radio.atomicmusic.space\/index.php\/2020\/08\/17\/joel-closes-life-chapter-with-a-cocktail\/","title":{"rendered":"Joel closes life chapter with a Cocktail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cocktail of Emotions – the final track from the Lucky Man EP – offers a stiff mix of feels, subtle funk and hard truths<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the world has been in lockdown, Joel William Harrison has been releasing one track every month from his latest EP, Lucky Man. Cocktail of Emotions – the fourth and final track from the EP – offers a stiff mix of feels with a twist of singer-songwriter pop funk. As with the first three tracks, Cocktail of Emotions explores new sonic space and instrumentation for Joel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was going through a pretty challenging time in my life when a mate messaged me to check in and ask how I was going,\u201d Joel explains. \u201cI remember writing back, \u2018Mate, it’s just a cocktail of emotions. Good and bad, all mixed up.\u2019 And just like that, the song started spiralling around in my subconscious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople like to talk about emotions in life as if they\u2019re binary or black and white but a lot of the time they\u2019re not that simple. They\u2019re complex and conflicting, just like a good cocktail can be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often songs will follow a rhyming scheme or tell a story but Cocktail of Emotions offers a literal recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had the name of the track sorted and decided to set myself the challenge of writing the entire song as though I was writing a drink recipe,\u201d Joel says. \u201cI like doing that sometimes while writing – set a challenge and hope it sparks creativity or a new perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The track was produced in Joel\u2019s hometown, Wagga Wagga, in regional New South Wales, with his long-time mate and mentor producer, Dale Allison. It\u2019s not the first time the pair has worked together \u2013 they joined forces for Joel\u2019s debut album, Thinking Over, Over Thinking. Following that release, Joel worked with Golden Guitar and ARIA Award-winning producers in Australia and Grammy-winning producers in Nashville to create his follow-up EP, Pofoco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Combine, then ice it down
With your cold, cold heart
And shake, shake, shake, shake”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember showing Dale this song in the studio for the first time and him saying, \u2018Ouch\u2019,\u201d Joel says with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said writing this track wasn\u2019t cathartic. But for good or bad, it\u2019s a list of all the emotions I was feeling at the time and I think that\u2019s how it is for most people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou rarely just feel one way wholeheartedly – there\u2019s usually a mixed bag of positives and negatives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as the unusual recipe structure, Cocktail of Emotions has a subtle funk pop vibe with a splash of pop to round out the flavour. \u201cIt was fun to build this track with Dale,\u201d Joel says. \u201cIt started as an acoustic and we slowly added those funkier elements, like the horns and harmonies. \u201cWhat we ended up with was hardly any acoustic. That obviously wasn\u2019t that plan. It was just what the song needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even with the final track from the Lucky Man EP now introduced to the world, Joel has no plans to slow down.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know how to do anything other than constantly create,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really hope these new tracks resonate with people but to be truthful, writing them would have happened no matter what, regardless of whether anyone else was going to hear them or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe last few months have been so crazy for everyone all over the world and it\u2019s been a really interesting time to be a musician and especially to release music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n