Proof Of Life (Deluxe)

Joy Oladokun is a seeker. Her music, which toes the line of a number of genres but treads most closely to warm, rootsy power pop, often scans as diaristic and charts Oladokun’s good-faith attempts to find her own meaningful place in the world, as when she sings she “cried for the innocent a thousand times” on the hopeful but wrenching “Changes” or that she’s just “trying to find a way up when I’m down” on “We’re All Gonna Die.” Guests on the LP include Manchester Orchestra, Mt. Joy, and Maxo Kream, but the standout may be “Sweet Symphony,” a match-made-in-heaven kind of collaboration with Chris Stapleton that offers ample room for both artists to showcase the interplay between their powerhouse voices. Opener “Keeping the Light On,” with its rhythmic layers of guitars and keys, gives a glimpse of Oladokun’s origin as she sings, “I grew up out in the desert/Where I learned to thrive alone” before encouraging herself and listeners to keep their heads up in the face of struggle. The Noah Kahan collaboration “We’re All Gonna Die” is surprisingly buoyant despite its title, offering a cheerful but grounded reminder that no one ever really has life figured out.