Indie newcomer Joshua Scarratt has shared the follow-up to autumn debut single ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Mind’. Along with the single, Scarratt has also announced his debut EP ‘Riding Through The Desert Of My Dreams’, which is due out May 16th. Performing on the EP alongside Scarratt is primarily collaborator Nick Hinman (Fast Money Music), as well as musicians Gamaliel Rendle Traynor on cello (Fat Dog, Fat White Family, Crack Cloud) and Callum Brown on drums (Ulrika Spacek).
Having spent the last 11 years promoting artists, Joshua found as the years went by a greater neglect to all forms of artistic practice and succumbing to an intense love/hate relationship with his first instrument the guitar had really taken hold. The outward performance of life looked pretty full, but internally, Joshua found his mental health at an all-time low following the experiences of isolation during the pandemic years.
Life required a simpler setting or set of circumstances with an emphasis on a return to being artistic and writing music. The key component of this was sobriety, which led quickly to reconnecting to music, film and books in an intense but healthy manner.
Detailing his second single release, Scarratt revealed:
“‘Hold Me’ is for these single people out there searching for connection in all the wrong places. You may not know it, but around and around we go.“ Hold Me” is also a cry for help and the endurance of repetition. It is the outward performance of life, whether through social media or your own misguided perception of the self.
I wrote this song originally in 2014, so when I revisited the music and the lyrics in October 2023, it was somewhat confronting. The discovery that not much had really changed and yet it all felt like things had really accelerated. I wrote new lyrics and adapted them to contextualise the song for where I found myself at the end of 2023.
The repeated intro in verse 2 is deliberate – it isn’t out of sheer laziness, it is to highlight the mental obsession one can find themselves in repeating routines which don’t serve them. Also, it’s a nod to some of my favourite pop songs growing up.”
A whip-sharp track dominated with Scarratt’s ear orgasm of a voice, the 80s vibe echoes in the guitar lead work and vicious stabs of piano and dynamic drumming. ‘Hold Me’ sits as the second track into an exciting new career and a singer songwriter to watch for 2025.
Check it out, here
Read our interview with Scarratt here
Arriving along side news of a debut headline show at Elephant’s Head, London on March 13th.
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