The exciting new single of Irish singer-songwriter Janet Devlin is called “Houston.” She combines Americana with the shot of honky-tonk energy, thus creating a uplifting song that claims her independence. Instead of portraying aloneness as loneliness, Janet reverses this, revealing that being alone could help us feel free, clear and happy.
Co-written with Chris Markey and produced by Paul Whalley and mastered by Christian Wright at Abbey Road Studios, it is a well-polished, but hard-edged anthem. There are rhythmic handclaps, incendiary guitar breaks, and vocalizations by Janet to evoke an involving listening experience. Her acting is believable and carries a certain burden of a past hardships, and it exudes the power of independence.
The essence of Houston is finding a way to remove the clamor of life and enjoy freedom in the countryside. The visuals that Janet draws are of running into the countryside, riding on a horse, or disappearing into an old beachside house far away from people. Such scenes transcend not only in a dreamlike fashion but in the feelings of isolation not being so frightening anymore, but rather a personal place of power- acceptance and growth.
The song is thematically tightly connected with the rest of her extended album Not My First Emotional Rodeo. It shows Janet is good at emotionally-appealing storytelling and brings a new more upbeat form of delivery to her rep. This song is like an exorcism over past work, in which she so often struggled with vulnerability and inner demons, the song is an exhalation of relief that being alone can be a joy and a thrill.
Of course, the background of highway guitars, stomping rhythms, and the signature voice crack of Janet make the song more than a mere tune. It is a treatise on how occasionally it is good to dump mission control and disappear into your own little universe.
