Water for Your Soul

Background

In 2008, Stone launched a legal battle in a bid to leave her record label, EMI, and free her of her current three-album deal with the record label. After EMI delayed the release of Colour Me Free!, originally scheduled for April 2009, Stone finally released the album on 20 October 2009. Joss revealed that her record company also fought her about the original cover of her new album, calling it "offensive" but by late August 2010, it was reported that Stone had left EMI and formed her own independent record label, Stone'd Records.

Stone partnered with Surfdog Records to release LP1 on 26 July 2011, through her own label Stone'd Records. Stone also joined the supergroup SuperHeavy which was formed by Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, together with Dave Stewart (credited by Mick with the original idea of SuperHeavy), Damian Marley (the youngest son of Bob Marley) and the Indian musician and producer A.R. Rahman. The album was recorded at Jim Henson Studios in Los Angeles and was released on 20 September 2011 by A&M Records. The debut single, "Miracle Worker", was released on 19 July 2011. Following Stones decision to join SuperHeavy she released "The Soul Sessions Vol 2" which saw Stone return to her original label, S-Curve Records, who released the album jointly with the artist's Stone'd Records.

Recording

The idea for a reggae record comes when Stone worked with Damien Marley on SuperHeavy in 2011. In an interview for Official Charts she stated: "Damien actually said to me, 'Joss, you have to do a reggae album!' I'm not crazy enough to know that a reggae album from me would be a very weird thing to do, but the songs we've created are heavily rooted in that sound. That's the style of the album. There's also the Irish fiddles, the Sarod, the tablas, the gospel, flamenco guitar".

Stone has began to work on a new record as soon after launch her sixth album The Soul Sessions Vol. 2. She announced to newspaper La Vanguardia back in July 2012 that she would work on a reggae album. She stated that it would be recorded and produced by herself and Damian Marley, who previously worked in SuperHeavy. In March 2014, she elaborated that the new album would be a little bit different and "more eclectic" with a "little bit more hip-hop and reggae".

The sounds and artistry direction of album was adapted and developed through four years that followed until the finished product, even putting songs written by her a long time ago. "The creation of the album has been going on for a while and I certainly had no idea what was getting myself into when I started it. [...] The songs on the album 'Wake Up' and 'Underworld' I wrote ages ago, with no real plan of them going on a record. Then I met Damien Marley when we were working on the Superheavy stuff and we started writing songs in the spare time we had between the sessions. I developed such a strong love for reggae music"

In 2014, Stone also worked with The Urban Folk Quartet members Joe Broughton and Paloma Trigas, who provided string parts for the album. Band member Tom Chapman said how the collaboration began: "Joss watched our gig at Green Man festival last year and came up to chat afterwards. She's really lovely and since then she's stayed in touch and come to see us on tour. When she needed something a little different for the strings on her new record she invited Joe and Paloma down to her studio where they had a great time making music". [...]"

Release and promotion

Stone inked deals with three different label services for the album release. The LP will be released via Stone's own label, Stone'd Records, in conjunction with Essential Music & Marketing in the UK and Ireland. Kobalt will be responsible for the US and South America, Canada, Australia, Japan and China, while Membran will be in charge for Europe and Africa. Essential's Stuart Meikle said: "Essential are absolutely delighted to be a part of the ongoing development of Joss's musical adventure."

In addition to releasing the album, she plans to embark on a true "world tour" by playing a gig in every country on the planet. The Total World Tour, which started in April 2014 should take two-and-a-half to three years and visit 204 countries.

Critical reception

Water for Your Soul received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 62, based on 14 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

In a generally positive four of five star review for the Daily Mail, Adrian Thrills wrote of Water For Your Soul: "...it is the reggae numbers that give this album its signature sound, and the way Stone adapts her breathy vocals to a new beat is astonishing. Now more comfortable in the studio, she glides effortlessly around the grooves." He concluded with: "As a singer who charted her own course while others faltered, hers is now a talent in full bloom."

In a three of five star review for the Guardian, Caroline Sullivan wrote: "the pro-weed track Sensimilla will prompt mass eye-rolling because of her decision to sing part of it in patois, and Harry’s Symphony likewise (her accent – “If you want to get ‘igh, bring your own supply” etc – turns it into Stone’s own Dreadlock Holiday, which probably wasn’t the intention)." Concluding her review on a more positive note, Sullivan suggested: "...this album is definitely worth an unbiased listen."

In a two of five star review for popcrush.com Matthew Scott Donnelly wrote that: "Water for Your Soul, the artist’s 14-track ska/reggae experiment, is a risk with no reward." He added: "Where Stone’s soul-throwbacks have been more than convincing, her short stay in the Caribbean relies on gimmicks, progresses like an anesthetic drip and underscores a voice that’s a whispery fraction of its former self."

In Trucking magazine's regular music reviews Shaun Connors wrote: "Hideous. Stone’s previous soulful wailings were bad enough, but this tangential slide into pop-reggae is even worse. Bland and with no sense of genuine style or direction." Concluding a one star out of five review, Connors added: "This 'I'll do what I want release' is suited to no more than beach-bar background music on a Death In Paradise-style Caribbean island."

Commercial performance

Water for Your Soul debuted at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 4,615 copies in its first week. Until December 2015, the album has sold 29,000 copies in US and is, so far, the biggest-selling current reggae album of 2015 and the second-largest overall, giving to Stone the Nº. 1 Year-End Reggae Album of 2015.

Track listing

Sample credits