DUNDONIAN Joshua Gray transposes into the musical sphere as Jeshua, and as such, plies a delightful, lo-fi yet soaring line in dreamy, gliding guitar pop which could easily have come adorned in a v23 sleeve for 4AD.
He’s resident in that most musically indie of Scottish cities, Glasgow, and he’s pretty new to the scene, but he’s already made a mark with stripped down and woozily swoonsome nuggets like his single from last November, the shimmering six-string delight of “Feel-So-Alive”, which was actually his debut, the more surprising to this grey matter since it’s so deliciously fully formed; and then, so as to prove he has this whole frail, pretty guitar aesthetic he has going nailed, followed that up last month with another dreampop cracker, “Waste Away”.
Going for the hat-trick, running for goal, he shoots and he scores once more with the millennially abbreviated “IDK”, which you can play below. Do. He’s ace.
It’s a little bit darker, a little more ethereal maybe; I think it’s got the Jeshua stamp of confidence and quality, not something you can often attribute to someone who’s been releasing singles for … well, it’s only weeks, really.
Lyrically, “IDK” offers a sweet and ghostly don’t-know refection on adulthood and careerism; the disillusionment that comes with growing up.
It seems to inhabit that space where Field Mice, in a more longform and wholly pop blur, share a stage in your head with Kurt Ralske’s Ultra Vivid Scene, the massively underrated New York band who released greats like “The Mercy Seat” at the turn of the Nineties. I’d even go so far as to say with this quality of material, any forthcoming long player with have the adorability of a missing fourth album from them. Quality.
Jeshua’s ‘IDK’ is out today via all digital service providers.
Connect with Jeshua at his website, on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify and YouTube.
