SONTALK - Stay Wild (2019) [Hi-Res]

Stay Wild, the debut album from SONTALK, follows the personal trials and triumphs of Joseph LeMay, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist behind SONTALK. Available here on double LP and CD.

By way of familial candor and visceral vulnerability, the twelve tracks comprising SONTALK’s full-length debut album, Stay Wild, chronicle LeMay’s journey of self-reflection, discovery, acceptance and ultimately, growth. In 2016 LeMay met producer Jeremy Lutito (Chuck Berry, Colony House, Erin McCarley) and together they brought the vision of SONTALK to life, recording Stay Wild along with engineer Logan Matheny at Big Light Studio in Nashville.

LeMay imbues Stay Wild with moments of triumph and despair, tossing and turning between emotional extremes to create an openly honest dialogue with himself and listeners. The album is an expansion of the emotional terrain covered in his introductory EP, SONTALK: Act I, released April 2018. On Act I, the lead single (included on Stay Wild) “I Am A War Machine,” through jagged textures and frenetic rhythms, LeMay invokes a voice on the verge of mental unraveling realizing his own volatility and gaining awareness.

The lead offering from Stay Wild, “Baby, I’m Gone” fuses a stark and soulful vocal to sinewy acoustic guitar and a glitchy beat, with LeMay’s haunting voice echoing with powerful passion and plaintive poetry. “I Am A Mountain” follows the October release of “Baby, I’m Gone” and serves as a dynamic apex and bookend to the first half of Stay Wild. With a loping pace and persistent driving beat, it illustrates the tired longing of the narrator, building to a heartbreaking crescendo that mimics the fallout of a failing relationship. Elsewhere the album is grounded by LeMay’s powerful vocals and a delicate dissonance of multifarious sonic textures that range from distorted slide guitar transmissions, sequenced beats, vinyl samples and warm electronics. The result is a deeply emotional journey into LeMay’s life, offering a therapeutic and universal wisdom meant to be shared for a long time to come.