Juana Everett

It’s logical that the title of singer/songwriter Juana Everett’s first full length album concerns movement. She has experienced plenty of it.

There’s the physical process of changing locales; from her home in Spain halfway across the world to L.A. Also the realization it was time to shift from the punk, rock and Americana bands she had been involved with to more insightful, personal and eclectic folk/indie rock. And the psychological shift required to begin a fresh life, not just in a new city, but on a different continent. That’s enough for a few albums’ worth of material.

Many of Everett’s songs for Move On were written during this transitory stage. “When I decided to leave Spain and move to the U.S.…it was at a time in my life that was more emotionally delicate than I realized,” she explains. Everett left an unhealthy relationship along with difficult family issues, so the relocation came during a particularly unsettling time. 

That’s explored in the disc’s autobiographical first single “Drifter of Love.” It opens the set with “Early in the summer of 2016/Brave as I could be I left my home/I wasn’t sure of what I was chasing/why I carried on.” The track “Wind Whistle Blow” also explores this era as she tells herself to keep pushing even when things look gloomy, singing “I travel alone and I’m jaded/But I know that I can stand up on my feet/Telling myself to be patient.” 

It took a while to return to that period to fully explore it with honesty, transforming her feelings into tunes.  “I wrote most of the songs in my first and second year in L.A. It wasn’t until then that I could record some demos.” After examining that material, Everett recognized the larger picture was a reflection of this chapter of her life. “It had to do with moving on to something different, something new, and letting go of the past.”

That makeover from the aggressive music she had been connected with to an introspective and earthier approach came easily. “It was getting in touch with my feelings instead of raging as a way to mask them.” She quit the band because that style didn’t represent her authentic self. 

Everett has gone through plenty of changes since her previous 2015 EP. “Back then I was more naïve. I’m more grounded now and more stable in my emotional state. I still expose myself as raw as I can.” And this new music best captures her inner self, something she has had to work on.  “My strength as an artist is to express the things I feel in the truest way. I’ve dealt with a lot of anxiety and some depression.  Now I’m very aware of how your mental well-being is really important. It’s like a rubber band. You can stretch it and let it go. But if you stretch it too much it may not come back to the original shape.”

The sound also reflects her relatively recent L.A. environment, mostly because it is such a diverse setting. “L.A. didn’t have a natural identity. That was scary but…it helped me write songs instead of identifying myself with a specific genre.” She also studied production while working at recording studios which helped with laying down these tracks, nudging them closer to what she heard in her head.

The self-produced disc is crisp and subtle yet powerful. Layered guitars and subtle vocal overdubs create a CD as refined and well-crafted as any major label release, specifically of the West Coast variety from a few decades ago.  “On this album, I wanted to own every decision. I was pulling influences from folk, Americana, and rock but I also opened myself more to the 80s, so some of the arrangements and songs have that influence.” 

The singer’s voice is, like her words, honest and genuine. Sympathetic overdubs provide personalized vocal backing and the occasional bluesy lead guitar adds an organic and somewhat tougher feel to the often chiming music.  She also searched out musicians from different backgrounds. It was those players that helped create arrangements which make her melodies so memorable.

Everett clarifies that some tracks are “like a dialog with myself. Sometimes I talk about myself in the third person…to analyze myself better.” A tune such as “Fake Love” which describes a toxic liaison with “She gotta move on/Turn around and go,” can be perceived as both subjective encouragement and cautioning others to remove themselves from unhealthy romantic attachments and addictive obsessions. The title of “I Won’t See You Anymore” is a defiant kiss-off to a soon to be ex.  

Even in darker selections like “Light Up a Fire,” which describes the protagonist fighting depression with “Yes I’ve wished for death/But I’m not the first one and I’m not ashamed/I found deep in me there’s still a flame,” a hope for improved times provides positive reinforcement.  That’s especially true in the romantic musings of “Until the Sky Ain’t Blue” where Everett sings “Hold my hand until the sky ain’t blue/I just wanna take care of you.” It’s a glorification of love and commitment and one of the album’s most uplifting moments. 

By the time of the piano based closing “Little Tragedies” where Everett lets go of the bumps in life’s road that led her to where she is, the listener is bathed in a calming finality that gives the sense of arrival at the end of a long journey.

The singer/songwriter’s music doesn’t have obvious connections to her Spanish heritage other than in a direct, some might say uncompromising, lyrical attitude. But that charm and charisma makes Move On such an emotional and well, moving experience. One that can be appreciated by anyone who has weathered life’s uncertainties and, like Everett, keeps focused on the path ahead.