Joan are a pop duo, hailing from Little Rock in Arkansas. They have released a series of tracks since their formation in 2017, and Nervous is their latest offering. 

What Joan are doing with the narrative of Nervous is fairly straightforward. The word Nervous in the song is referring to the feeling that you can get if you have started to convince yourself that you really really like someone and their presence can simply make you nervous. It creates an image of teenage infatuations, when you pluck up the courage to talk to your crush and all the words come out wrong and you feel a bit stupid because of how nervous you have been. Joan does add a line that says ‘you do it on purpose’ suggesting that the person you have a crush on knows how nervous you are and they play on it. I’ve always thought that too, so it’s nice that we agree! 

Nervous is unique in terms of how it has been produced, as there is a simplicity to the arrangement that sometimes gets lost in new releases, where layers and layers are added which can sometimes detract from the musicianship. There is a real staccato feel to both the melody and the backing from the beginning, which creates an interesting pop blend with just guitar and voices. The melody is catchy and follows patterns that engage the listener's ear. The middle has a very different feel, but doesn’t detract from the song, which is a good showcase of a band that knows who they are and can confidently put together a slick track, which Nervous undoubtedly is. 

Author: Phil Arnold

Phil Arnold is a musician, producer and music reviewer from Devon, in the South West of England. Whilst not writing music reviews, Phil also writes and records under the name of Ugbrooke.