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Juliet Lloyd is on the road again and returning to Rochester.
Last year, the folk-pop musician was a featured artist in the Rochester Jazz Festival’s Roots & Americana Series, playing songs from her “High Road” EP. On Dec. 1, Lloyd will bring new tunes with her to Lovin Cup as a part of her album release tour.
Lloyd’s latest album, “Carnival,” is the culmination of songwriting that first kicked off, somewhat ironically, when performance spaces were shut during the COVID-19 pandemic. The nine songs required more time to marinate than “High Road,” especially with deeply personal themes of change and self-reflection, she remarks.
“I’m proud of my earlier work, but I don’t think it was coming from a place of deep personal vulnerabilities in the way that this album is,” Lloyd says. “(The songs) all stem from me examining past decisions or relationships or situations with a critical eye. Not just toward the other person, but also myself, and saying what my role or contribution was in this.
“Writing all these songs was, for me, working through a process,” Lloyd continues. “Like what happens when an experience is over? How do you appreciate it for what it was and acknowledge it for what it wasn’t? How do you move on in a way that’s true to your experience?”
For example, the title track was inspired by the singer’s own youthful memories of carnival days and the impermanence of their aftermath. The song’s lyrics personify those emotions in a mysterious and nostalgic character.
“She is the hope that’s eternally springing/The merry-go-round that you never outgrow,” sings Lloyd. “She’s onto the next town/Onto the next town/Onto the next town/Like a carnival.”
Other songs find different emotions through the processing of reflecting on the past. For example, while the character in “Sorry Now” is saddened by the mistakes of past relationships, “Motorcycle & Tattoo Sleeve” has an air of acceptance and a newfound knowledge that sometimes, people are not a good fit together.
The music and lyrics of “Call Your Wife,” on the other hand, bring themes of truth, lies, suspicion, and faithfulness, in an ominous and scathing package. The song also has a music video shot in an abandoned amusement park that reflects the album’s overall vibe of a “slightly demented carnival.”
“I liked the sense of memory and nostalgia and the overall decay as a tie-in with the themes of the song,” Lloyd says of the location. “The biggest feature of it that’s still standing is this ferris wheel, but it’s almost completely covered with vegetation so you can see what it was and what used to be there, but it’s obviously past its glory years.”
The song “Search Your Soul” similarly has a sense of anger to it. As Lloyd considers it a sequel to “High Road,” it is just as much a righteous takedown as the original.
The first song saw a wronged individual frustrated with a lack of closure after taking the high road by choosing not to confront the perpetrator. In “Search Your Soul,” the singer sees that the same behavior continues to occur to others and assertively calls it out this time.
“When I wrote (“High Road”) those few years ago, I wasn’t ready to call this person out necessarily or be so direct,” the songwriter reflects. “There’s a line in ‘Search Your Soul’ where it basically is like ‘I wasn’t ready to say it back then, but I’m saying it now.’
“So hopefully it shows a little bit of, I don’t know if growth is the right word,” she laughs. “But it shows a difference even with those same themes.”
Although “High Road” and “Search Your Soul” were inspired by a professional relationship, Lloyd understands why some listeners interpret it as romantic. She says her writing is meant to be interpreted by the audience with an emotional connection.
“I tend to think I’m a pretty positive and upbeat person in life, so, in a way, it was really satisfying to get to write and record a bunch of songs that acknowledge that we all have our cynical, bitter moments,” says Lloyd. “But it’s okay, we can let them be what they are.”
Juliet Lloyd will appear 5-7 p.m., Dec. 1, at Lovin Cup, 300 Park Point Drive, $10-$15.
Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and data journalist. The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
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