Artist:     Gary Louris

Album:     Jump for Joy

Label:     Sham/Thirty Tigers

Release Date:     6.4.21

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Real intimacy is achieved on the insular Jump for Joy, the second solo album from Gary Louris, which is lovingly dedicated to his wife, Stephanie. A lovely, low-key affair, written, produced and performed entirely by The Jayhawks’ leader, it arrives with hat in hand 13 years after he first ventured out on his own with the more ambitious and sumptuous Vagabonds.

Don’t read too much into the title, as moments of blissful euphoria on Jump for Joy are rare, although they seem to leap from the swift, undeniably catchy opener “Almost Home,” an electro-pop charmer – just like the optimistic, rushing zephyr “New Normal” – that’s punctuated by tight, rhythmic handclaps and stabs of cheery strum. Prettier still, the sweet romantic innocence and lightly melodic folk-pop of “Follow” echo the Traveling Wilburys’ carefree spirit and sound.

Nevertheless, Louris’ latest seems weighed down by melancholic resignation while still living in hope, feeling disconnected but not completely discouraged or defeated. Louris is not alone, as the timing of Jump for Joy is impeccable, considering the pandemic-induced fragility of our collective mental health. Inching close, so it feels as if Louris is in the same room, the spare, quivering “White Squirrel” almost whispers the anxiety and despair of a lonely introvert who “sticks out like a sore thumb” in a crowd, while the downcast title track draws uncomfortably near, as well. The yearning “Too Late the Key” is beautifully rendered as Louris turns philosophical, like he does in a sparse, wistful “Living In-Between” and the slow-climbing “Dead Man’s Burden,” a grandiose, piano-based send-off that meditates on mortality as it breathes in sighing harmonies and strings.

His Midwestern voice still dry and breezy, perfectly suited for the swooning harmonies he loves, Louris turns in a serious character study of a literary giant in “Mr. Updike,” maybe sensing a kinship with the workaholic loner. It’s another triumph of songwriting maturity from Louris, as Jump for Joy mostly draws thoughtful, articulate and affecting vignettes where Vagabonds painted expansive, life-sized murals. Either way works for Louris.

—Peter Lindblad