Juneau, Alaska-based Josh Fortenbery is a gravel-voiced singer and guitarist who writes like a poet and effortlessly moves between genres, creating an inviting blend of country, folk, and bluegrass. He sings sad songs but smiles a lot and usually means it.
On his latest single, the raw and infectious “The Exterminator,” Fortenbery delves into the nuances of who he is as an artist and a person. The simplistic yet intoxicatingly potent single is built around hypnotic acoustics that anchor the subtleties of the instrumentation to earth, and this arrangement surely needs to be tethered to reality somehow. Fortenberry musically achieved a lot with a little on “The Exterminator,” incorporating splashes of folksiness into the heartbreaking honesty of the lyrics. Lyrically, Fortenbery is a wide-open book waiting to be carefully annotated. “The Exterminator” poetically self-analyzes the artist and lays out its findings for all to see, regardless of how revealing they may be to Fortenbery. Fearlessly, the artist releases a vulnerable single that peels back a layer from their thick mystique. “The Exterminator” finds Fortenbery highlighting emotions most would keep private while setting these harsh realities to raw, folksy minimalism and soul-touching melodies.
“‘The Exterminator’ is one of many tunes in my catalog that identify patterns of poor behavior while admitting I’m not doing much about them,” explains Fortenbery. “It strikes that neurotic blend of introspective, self-aware, and defeatist that tends to pervade a lot of my lyrics. I recorded the guitar and vocals when I was recording my debut album, No Such Thing as Forever, but it felt unfinished and didn’t quite fit on the record. While working on my new album, I revisited this track to add harmonies, bass, and some snaps and claps, finally finding the right sound for these lyrics.”
