Joan Armatrading is a woman of candour - not to mention can do. She gets straight to the heart of the matter, and she delivers. Her lyrics, her distinctive voice and her multi-instrumental prowess have led to an enduring love and respect from millions across the world. Her words have an authenticity and her vocals an authority that resonates directly with the listener.

On her new studio album, Not Too Far Away she presents 10 new tracks that take the deeply personal and make it universal. It is Joan at her very best. A love album of intensity that gets better on every listen.

From the Cri de Coeur of the opening song, ‘I Like It When We’re Together’, to the heartfelt ‘No More Pain’ where Joan jumps straight in with “This pain is my protection”, these are lyrics that don’t prevaricate, they tell it how it is. In that seemingly effortless way of all good writing, they touch the heart and mind of the recipient.

There is the haunting and rather melancholic ‘Cover My Eyes’, the tough and complex ‘Invisible (Blue Light)‘, the wistful ‘Not Too Far Away’ title track infused with longing, and the instantly memorable and anthemic ‘Any Place’. From ‘Always In My Dreams’ with its solo piano accompaniment to the jaunty ‘This Is Not That’ there is a glorious array of rhythms and tempos.

Not Too Far Away is Joan’s 21st album and, once again, she has written, sung, arranged and produced all the tracks as well as playing all the instruments except for drums which she programmed. It comprises the studio follow-up to the genre based trilogy, ‘This Charming Life’, the jazz orientated ‘Starlight’ and the blues based ‘Into The Blues’ which went straight to the top of the Billboard Blues Chart, making Joan the first British female artist ever to do so.