Josh Phillips – New Beginnings
Cyrus Rhodes
Posted On February 23, 2016
Sensitive singer/songwriters like Josh Phillips give lie to the idea that modern pop can’t produce substantive artists. Phillips, on his debut New Beginnings, is astute enough to surround himself with five star collaborators, but there’s never a second on this release when you feel like you’re hearing something or someone else in any of the EP’s six songs. This is Josh Phillips, eighty proof, unfiltered. Unlike many other collaborators associated with high profile acts, Phillips has surrounded himself with a creative team that helps facilitate his vision rather than propping it up with ideas of their own. This is reflected in the glossy production values that never place him above the melodic fray but, instead, balance his voice against a surprising variety of instruments to help illuminate each track as an individual performance rather than one more cookie cutter entry on a cookie cutter product. Josh Phillips certainly isn’t vanilla.
He cuts against your expectations too. It’s wonderful that the opener, “Completely Out of You”, relies on a rock and roll backbeat without ever once relying on clichéd guitars for manufactured grit and crunch. Phillips’ voice pumps it up another notch with his assertive pipes. “Steal Me Away” has considerably more finesse than the first song and none of its head-down rock and roll thunder, but it’s no less interesting for that. Phillips and his collaborators once again reject any self-indulgent musical sideshows and, instead, exhibit great consideration in constructing a moody musical landscape to match an equally moody lyric. The mood lightens some on “A New Tomorrow” thanks to lyrical acoustic guitar lines and a beautiful vocal melody. New Beginnings pursues a largely low-fi musical slant from here out and it’s a credit to his songwriting and the band’s playing skills that, despite the diminished sonic muscle, none of the remaining tracks lose a fraction of urgency.
“Leave in Love” is a perfect example of how, despite any pre-designed lulls in tempo, focus and clarity keep individual songs moving forward. Everything serves a purpose in Josh Phillips’ music – there are no extraneous pieces tacked on to please the artist and leave the listener dissatisfied or bemused. “Inspired” is another great example of this because it shows how Phillips can handle apparently alien musical elements, like semi-classical structures and influences, and incorporate them into the mainstream vocabulary of his music without missing a beat. There’s no moment, however, where this is more apparent than in the EP’s final song.
“No Sleep Tonight” is a surprisingly faithful tribute to American blues music and, despite its winking lyrical content, Phillips never treats this as some jokey lark. He sings with easy confidence and respect for the musical traditions while the band whips out classic blues lines with hip-swaying freedom. It’s a glittering end for one of the year’s best debut efforts. Josh Phillips isn’t some pretty face with a canned pedigree, but a vital young artist who has merely begun to scratch the surface of his skills.
Josh Phillips – New Beginnings
URL: http://thejoshphillips.com/
Purchase Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/josh-phillips/id147054099
9 out of 10 stars.
Cyrus Rhodes
