Joanna Duff, a California native, started recording music with little intention of creating a full-fledged album. After the death of her father, Duff felt the need to turn her potentially four song extended play (EP) into a more full-length composite of eight songs.
Despite only having these few songs — approximately half of an hour in length — “We are the Lucky Ones” is a surprisingly good album. Each song in this album brings with it a hint of nostalgia, with their ‘90s and early 2000s feel. The album, which debuted on Oct. 13, is still new to the music world and, therefore, is not well-known, though it is an impressive start for a musician new to recording.
The nostalgic feeling brought by the combination of Duff’s vocals and a heavy acoustic guitar is a common theme throughout the album. While this nostalgia is a positive aspect of each of the songs, each song induces the same exact feeling, and similar musical tones are incorporated into each. The problem with this is that every song is easily interchangeable with any of the others because they are all so similar. Ignoring lyrics, there is almost nothing special or distinguishable in any particular song in the album — nothing sets any song apart from the rest of the album.
Another detractor of the album as a whole is that it is often difficult to hear the vocals over the guitar in the background. In general, this is not a major problem because the songs are still worth listening to and are calming. For college students, Joanna Duff’s music would prove worthy of being relegated to study time music, as her songs work well as background tunes.
Overall, this album is a decent start for the musician, though she would have nothing to lose by diversifying her music so that her next album does not sound like one long continuation of a single song. “We are the Lucky Ones” is an album that is reminiscent of the past and is wonderfully relaxing to listen to, which makes it a great album for those seeking to de-stress from hectic lives.