Riding On Vegyn’s Shoulders
The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions gives me the feeling of my favorite memory. Which memory exactly, I couldn't tell you, but the feeling is there and that’s more than enough. As the album rolls out, I think a lot of reviews are going to use words like “nostalgic” or “familiar”. These descriptors are, ultimately, personal and up for interpretation by definition, which is exactly what Joseph wants.
“I think it's better to present a question than an answer — it forces someone to have their own opinion about the music and that's great. Whether it's right or wrong, it doesn’t matter.” He follows with, “Having people walk away from any type of art with more questions than answers, strikes up an interesting challenge for me as a creator.”
The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions is the representation of deep growth for an artist learning how to let go and look in. “This record took a lot of trial and error and waiting to see what would work. I was also interested in seeing if things still affected me after the initial excitement of them,” describes Joseph. He goes on to compare his current self to his past self and how he used to “produce his way out of problems" but isn’t interested in that anymore.
“As an artist, you want to be better at the things you feel like you should be better at. I ended up canning this philosophy and decided to play to my strengths even more. I don’t care about a complicated chord progression so much as I do just trying to capture a feeling as quickly as possible.”
This newfound approach is how songs like "Another 9 Days" and "Halo Flip" were made. Even though the album took about five years to make, Joseph’s favorite bits and pieces were made in a matter of weeks.
It's obvious in talking to Joseph that this free-flow state is something he has, subconsciously or not, been working towards as a musician. Time and letting go have seemed to offer him the space to change his workflow and reflect on himself as an artist.
“You won’t find the answers in a self help book, that’s just coping”, he pauses and after a momentary reflection, chuckles. “It makes me wonder if all I am doing is just coping, not actually dealing with anything. I am sort of projecting it out there and making everyone suffer. In a way, making this album is a way of letting go.”
The locations chosen for The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions’ music videos, directed by friend and longtime collaborator Joshua Gordon, were made to feel like the dancers were dropped around London, giving a sense that “you may have seen them before.”
As I watched the dancers move together in "Makeshift Tourniquet", I got a sense of watching someone else’s found footage. It reminded me of being a kid and filming myself with friends just because we found an old camera in their parent’s basement. It’s intimate and feels more familiar than you’d expect.
This is a constant feeling and theme throughout the record and in Joseph’s overall work. There is this innate nod to nostalgia, in thinking on how the pieces will live now and how they’ll feel to look at later on.
Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds (2019)
In our conversation, he mentions the cover art for Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds. It is a photograph of himself as a kid on his Dad’s shoulders in front of a big dinosaur at the National History Museum in London. This photograph is similar to one we’ve all seen over and over, but Joseph asks, “How many people have this exact photograph with their parents?”
“It's nice to have these shared pictures or experiences because we live in such a hyper-connected society that actually feels devoid of any real connections. This is why I tend to gravitate to things more lighthearted and friendly, even though my music has a lot of sadness.”
That feeling, right in the middle of lighthearted and melancholy, is what Joseph seems to capture best as a musician. The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intention achieves connected nostalgia for listeners from all over, who have probably never met and never will. They’ll feel innately nostalgic for different moments, places, or things, but still — we’ll all be experiencing the same nostalgia, wherever we may be.
