Valerie June Owls, Omens, And Oracles
Valerie June's Owls, Omens, And Oracles arrives as a tender manifesto of joy and care, a roots-inflected collection that frames small acts of hope as a form of resistance. Across five professional reviews, critics point to the album's central refrain of celebration and resilience, awarding a consensus score of 80.8/100 and praising songs that turn tenderness into communal power.
Critics consistently singled out “Joy, Joy!”, “Trust The Path” and “Endless Tree” as the record's standout tracks. Reviews describe “Joy, Joy!” as an exuberant opener with horn accents and an earworm chorus, “Trust The Path” as meditative, repetitious counsel, and “Endless Tree” as a lullaby-like canopy that crystallizes the album's nature metaphors and spiritual tenor. Writers note recurring themes of roots/Americana, love as radical practice, interconnection, and healing - and many frame June's work as ritualistic alchemy that transforms personal sorrow into collective joy.
While the critical consensus is favorable - critics praise June's lyricism, childlike yet probing vocals, and moments of pared-back intimacy - several reviewers point to production that occasionally feels cluttered beside the record's minimalist impulses. That tension between warm, communal arrangements and slicker production provides the album's chief nuance. For readers asking whether Owls, Omens, And Oracles is worth listening to, professional reviews agree it offers essential, restorative moments and multiple best songs that reward repeat plays. Below, detailed reviews unpack how these standout tracks and themes shape June's most celebratory work to date.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Joy, Joy!
5 mentions
"Opening like the morning sky, 'Joy, Joy!' cascades us into a world of energetic transformation"— Clash Music
general album (spoken word, soulful tides)
1 mention
"I’m captivated by the force and variety from which she’s presented each song"— Clash Music
Endless Tree
4 mentions
"watching the news every night / Telling the stories of all that ain’t right."— PopMatters
Opening like the morning sky, 'Joy, Joy!' cascades us into a world of energetic transformation
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Joy, Joy!
All I Really Wanna Do
Endless Tree
Inside Me
Trust The Path
Love Me Any Ole Way
Changed (Feat. The Blind Boys Of Alabama)
Superpower
Sweet Things Just for You
I Am In Love
Calling My Spirit
My Life Is A Country Song
Missin’ You (Yeah, Yeah)
Love And Let Go
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 6 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Valerie June shapes Owls, Omens, And Oracles into a manifesto of care where songs like “Trust the Path” and “Joy, Joy!” function as acts of resistance. The review’s prose lingers on June’s lyricism and meditative minimalism - the repetition in “Trust the Path” and the earworm chorus of “Joy, Joy!” are presented as the record’s moral and musical centers. With steady, analytical conviction the critic connects these best tracks to bell hooks’ love ethic, showing how self-trust and communal joy make these the best songs on Owls, Omens, And Oracles.
Key Points
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The best song, "Trust the Path", is best because its meditative repetition and minimalism embody the album’s love ethic.
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The album’s core strengths are lyric-driven reflection and linking personal care to collective resistance.
Themes
Critic's Take
Valerie June approaches Owls, Omens and Oracles like a balm, insisting on joy amid bleakness while leaning into nature metaphors. The review highlights “Joy, Joy!” and “Endless Tree” as emblematic best tracks, where seeded-struggle and a single ember of light become the album's emotional center. It also singles out “I Am In Love” for its quizzical tenderness and stretched vowels, showing why listeners asking "best tracks on Owls, Omens and Oracles" should start there. The tone is gently celebratory rather than triumphalist, praising M Ward's production and June's pure, childlike vocals as the reason these songs stick.
Key Points
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The best song is "Joy, Joy!" because it frames the album's theme of finding light through a planted-seed metaphor and is called beatific.
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The album's core strengths are June's pure, childlike vocals, nature-based metaphors, and warm production that blends folk, gospel and soul.
Themes
Critic's Take
Valerie June arrives with Owls, Omens and Oracles as a record about joy-as-resistance, and the best songs on the album bear that out. The opener “Joy, Joy!” is a whole damn mood, a three-minute, horn-accented bop that sets the tone, while “Endless Tree” functions as the album’s canopy, its lullaby-like exhortation offering actionable solace. Likewise, “Love Me Any Ole Way” turns vulnerability into small-scale rebellion, sung over a drunken warble of brass that feels both intimate and defiant. These tracks are the best tracks on Owls, Omens and Oracles because they marry June’s deceptively mellow delivery with a persistent, restorative optimism.
Key Points
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The best song is "Joy, Joy!" for its exuberant, horn-driven energy and role as the record’s tonal anchor.
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The album’s core strength is marrying Valerie June’s mellow delivery with a sustained, restorative optimism that treats joy as resistance.
Themes
Critic's Take
Valerie June treats Owls, Omens And Oracles as ritual and remedy, where opening track “Joy, Joy!” and the sanctuary-like “Trust The Path” stand out as the album's best songs, channels of communal healing and ecstatic prayer. The reviewer's language is reverent and poetic, celebrating how “Joy, Joy!” cascades into transformation while “Trust The Path” offers piano sanctuary and wise counsel. This is a record of alchemy and ancestry, its best tracks functioning as spells that bind personal sorrow to collective joy. The tone remains devotional and awed, answering queries about the best tracks on Owls, Omens And Oracles with clear favorites rooted in spirit and craft.
Key Points
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The best song, "Joy, Joy!", is best for its opening cascade of energetic transformation and ceremonial power.
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The album's core strengths are its spiritual immediacy, ancestral themes, and varied sonic textures that serve communal healing.
Themes
Critic's Take
Valerie June still sounds like an inquisitive soul, and on Owls, Omens, and Oracles the best songs - notably “Joy, Joy!” and “Endless Tree” - carry the record’s bright, anthemic heart. Hynes writes with a measured appreciation, noting how the exuberant opener and the stomping, rocking “Endless Tree” crystallize the album’s celebration of love and spirit, even as production sometimes clutters the view. He highlights pared-down moments like the duet with Norah Jones and the a cappella “Calling My Spirit” as essential counterpoints that let June’s layered, girlish Tennessee twang shine. Overall the review presents the album as uplifting and occasionally over-produced, but with several clear best tracks that reward repeated listening.
Key Points
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“Joy, Joy!” is the best song because its bright, enthusiastic delivery and Ward’s blistering solo give the album an immediate, infectious lift.
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The album’s core strengths are June’s layered, distinctive Tennessee twang and the interplay between lush arrangements and pared-down moments that foreground her vocals and spiritual themes.