From the first vocal expression of Mia Mormino on ‘Joan of Arc’, you’re immediately lured into this mesmerising pop vocalists talent. Her voice is the indisputable highlight of this record, so powerful, yet so measured across the three minute long ballad. Starting off soft and supple, Mia Mormino starts to hit a powerful crescendo as the arrangement starts to hit a heavier and darker note on the chorus line. The song itself feels like an outcry, a rebellion, a moment of transformation. It’s an inflexion point, the moment of change, that battle cry that inspires you to turn the tides in your favour. The defiance in the chorus, ‘I lost my crown, on the ends of the earth/But I’m rising now, as I watch it all burn’ lives long in your head long after the first time you hear it.
Infectiously written and composed, and powerfully performed, ‘Joan of Arc’ is one of the more imaginative and immense pop ballad’s I’ve come across.