Good pop songs celebrate the history of the genre. They exist on a continuum – informed by the past, but pushing ahead into the future. From the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” to Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” pop songs are obsessed with the idea of “the moment.” The characters in these songs are taking control of their own lives. Pop songs detail little acts of bravery, where people feel empowered to seize the day. Cincinnati artist Joey Joesph’s newest single, “Longhair” turns that formula on its head.
Joesph left indie pop group Pomegranates in 2013 to pursue the teachings of DIY legends such as Emitt Rhodes, R. Stevie Moore, and Joe Meek. Joey’s fifth full-length with this project (known simply as Joesph until this year) is his first self-titled release. It is a collection of love songs, an homage to a small dog, a recital of dreams, and it showcases a wide-range of musical influences: punk, folk, exotica, pop, and forgotten themes to imagined television shows. CityBeat has described Joesph’s songs as “…[giving] off the fuzzy Kaleidoscope Pop feels of The Zombies or Os Mutantes,” and, “…what God would play for Prince as he walked through Heaven’s gate.”
Today Glide is excited to premiere “Longhair,” a song that stretches “the moment” into an entire evening. Musically, it’s a love affair between The Beach Boys and Dirty Mind-era Prince. Complete with intricate guitar harmonies and swirling synthesizers, it tells the story of a guy at a party who fails to take the opportunity to talk to someone. Joseph writes, “Whenever I turn on the radio I hear at least one song about a sad guy at a party where he doesn’t belong, but he could be happy if this lady he’s spotted from across the room would notice him.” Stretched into a sprawling, six-minute psych-pop jam, “Longhair” is an amazing song about a missed connection.
Write-up by David Haynes.
Listen to the track and read our interview with Joey Joseph below…
Longhair is awesome! A great mix of electronics/analog sounds/psych-fx.. It’s a great showcase for what your upcoming S/T record (due out July 3rd) encompasses. Did you have a vision you wanted to get across when you started making this album or did it all coalesce during the recording process?
Thanks a lot! Nearly half of this album is re-recorded material from an ep I put out in 2012 that was called “I Don’t Know if We’re in a Garden,” which I lifted from a lyric from “I Only Have Eyes For You.” I’ve always loved the version The Flamingos did. I hadn’t thought much about it until a friend messaged me late last year asking for a song from that ep called Little Heart. I went to find the song, and ended up listening to the whole record and found myself thinking, “I still really like a lot of these songs.” So I messaged him back and said, “I actually think I’m gonna re-record this, I’ll send you the new version instead.” And that led to re-recording 3 more of those songs. Longhair was just an idea I’d had lying around for a while, but had some trouble figuring out what the final instrumentation should be. I just loved the idea of making one of those “sad-guy-at-a-party-who-sees-a-girl-who-could-fix-his-life” songs, but one that plays with how, kind of voyeuristic and creepy they usually seem to me, haha.
Generally when I’m making an album I’m in a more cinematic headspace – I’ll really carefully map out the flow from start to finish… it will usually start with a handful of songs, and then the rest gets filled in depending on what shape I see the album taking – what story I want to tell with it… dynamics are really important to me. With this it was less conceptual. The original ep had this kind of vibe of a kid just going nuts by himself recording in his bedroom, and I wanted to hold onto that to some extent. The concept was just “recording songs”. It’s maybe more of a mixtape vibe than my other stuff, but I still tried to think about piecing it together with an emphasis on flow. I had some other tunes that I really liked, but they didn’t fit on any other album I had in mind, so I worked them in on this, and I like how it came out.
Tell us about The Eyebrow Palace; what is your recording set up, what inspires you to produce yourself and other local bands?
The Eyebrow Palace started out as a label in 2014. I had my first 2 or 3 albums finished at that point, and I was just about to start shopping them around when I thought, “maybe I should try to do a label.” After a few years I realized I enjoyed recording more than ever, and did not really want to run a label. I slowly started working more with other artists here and there and started referring to my home setup as the Eyebrow Palace. It felt like something official to put in the notes of my records, anyway.
Now, in 2020, it still has a home-recording vibe, which I like. I’m really into the idea of limitations forcing creativity. I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 with a Scarlett OctoPre, giving me 16 channels of simultaneous tracking (I think it can actually be more than that, but that’s all I ever use). I’ve got the UA 710 TwinFinity, which I use for a mono drum overhead and any bass or guitar I record direct, which happens a lot. I record in Reaper, which I think is really intuitive and powerful, and it’s such an affordable DAW. I love it. I have a handful of mics, nothing too exciting… an Electro-Voice RE20 is the most expensive mic I own if that tells you anything. The EV RE16 is my go-to for most things. It’s my main vocal mic, and it’s what gets put on every guitar cab, and pretty much all auxiliary percussion. It has a cool vibe. I have a teal CM1 by 3U – that’s pretty much the only large diaphragm condenser I have for now, but it’s great, and still under $150, I think. Then the CAD drum mic pack, which I got after reading an interview with Richard Swift in TapeOp. I really miss his presence in the world.
In 2004 or ’05, I was working at a skatepark in northern Kentucky with this great guy, Joe, who gave me a mix CD-R. Two songs immediately caught my attention, and they were both by The Microphones, from The Glow pt. 2 album. The Moon and You’ll Be In The Air. I had no idea what they were at the time, or how to look them up, but they completely blew my mind. I listened to them over and over again, and I mentioned them to my friend, Evan, and he was like, “oh yeah, Phil’s great” and gave me a bunch more Microphones/Mount Eerie stuff, that I think he got from our mutual friend, Ben Burroughs who just happens to be one of my all time favorite songwriters, and was another huge inspiration for me with home-recording (and still is). But I think that was the first thing more than anything else that made me want to start making records. Nothing on those old Microphones albums sounded the way it should, you know? Or, nothing sounded the way I was used to hearing it. It made recording seem like this really wild, exciting thing where anything is possible. There are no rules.
My parents were musicians as well, and I think they were pumped that I was getting more excited about music, and they bought me some recording software, Sony Acid, and a Tascam Portastudio. I got to work and have never looked back!
Recording and mixing stuff for other people is a somewhat more recent thing for me, but it’s immensely satisfying. I recently finished mixing an album for my friend David. His project is called Coast Off, and the record is called Honest August. I believe it comes out June 19 and I’m excited for people to hear it! I’ve also done a few songs for my friend Alex (Golden Orra). We tracked two songs here at my place before this quarantine shit set in, and then I mixed two more for him that he recorded himself since then. It’s a blast! I’m really hoping I get to do some more mixing for people while we’re all shut in, and then get back to having folks over to make records at the Palace once it’s safe!
We’ll leave off with this; what are you most optimistic about right now?
I’m very optimistic about change in our country, and in the world. It feels like people are starting to wake up, myself included. I was raised in a very conservative, midwestern culture, and I still have a lot to unlearn. But I have a great wife, and her family is amazing, and so open and loving, and always trying to grow and be better than they were yesterday. They’re incredible role-models, and they’re both artists/musicians, too. I’m super grateful for them.
I’m feeling really good about making more art and music! That’s what I love doing more than anything else, and I’m excited to keep doing more of it. Thanks so much for talking with me about it, it means a lot!
Joey Joesph’s self-titled album is due out on July 3rd. For more music and info visit joey-joesph.bandcamp.com.
