If, to those still bothered about genres and musical pigeon-holing, the singer-songwriter conjures images of acoustic precision and folk finesse and dream-pop, blends of neo-psychedelia, hazy textures, and pop melodics, then Frank Joshua has built his career on building bridges between those worlds.
Now he brings us his latest long player, the lush and rewarding Fertile Mind. If you are new to his music and if you are, shame on you, then this is a perfect place to start; if you have been following along, then this is the most vibrant recent chapter of the sonic story. The opening titular salvo, a song that runs from band-driven singer-songwriter moves into a world of glorious swathes of strings and vocal treatments, says everything I have just described far more eloquently than mere words ever could.
“Danny Boy” then pivots the album into a more hushed, ambient realm, where digital deftness seems to rule the roost, “Days Like These,” essentially a folktronic-pop piece, is a reminder that he can strip things back and still deliver one of the most inffectious and alluring of sounds, and “Melanie Klein” tips it’s hat to the chamber pop chic of the likes of Scott Walker and perhaps even Jacques Brel.
And, as brilliant as the music is, bend an ear to the lyrics, and you will find a poetic and literate world, one full of life and love and longing, depth and meaning, reason and reality, a refreshing change to the usual shallowness of the modern pop world.
Frank Joshua never disappoints, and this must be his finest body of work to date.
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