Project Description
JOESEF
‘DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD’
EP Review
20th October 2020
Reviewer – Dan Trinh
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Photo credit: Alexandra Waespi
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“…a word of warning. You won’t be able to get Joesef out of your head.” – RUSSH
“Joesef is the angel-voiced Glaswegian singer-songwriter whose otherworldly vocals have found their closest comparison in Amy Winehouse.” – DOINGBIRD
“..love and heartbreak spun into sonic honey..” – i-D
“A musician after our own heart..” – GAY TIMES
“Joesef’s low-key sad-boy bangers are what we need in 2020.” – THE LINE OF BEST FIT
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It is surprising that someone who only started making music about over 2 years ago can give you a certain feel the moment you first listen to their music. That is the case of Joesef, a Scottish singer who had been mistaken as a woman before coming out to play his first sold out show at King Tut’s. After his debut EP which was released last year, the deemed 25-year-old sadboy returns with his second EP to conclude his first same sex relationship experience. Does It Make You Feel Good? inflicts an addictive lasting kind of melancholy that seeps through your soul when listened to on a gloomy day.
Joesef enjoys opening his EPs with a mood, by letting atmospheric noises play under his layers of vocals and instruments, creating space and a sense of reality for the track. Everything Belongs to You utilises ambient breathy voices and distant sound of a car honk to enhance the feeling of vagueness and loss when he realises that his ex-partner has taken a significant part of his life. But when it comes to letting go, which is considered as a challenging mental and emotional task after a broken relationship, Joesef seems to take it very easy in The Sun Is Up Forever. While Mariah Carey described it as “exceedingly hurtful”, or Tori Kelly said she couldn’t seem to master it, Joesef enjoys his vigorous liberation through his lyrics and lets the bluey production express his leftover sorrow.
The title track Does It Make You Feel Good? reminisces Amy Winehouse’s Tears Dry On Their Own, musically and lyrically. Joesef managed to make himself sound uniquely soulful over the jazzy bass, dreamy guitar and space-filling trumpet of the song, where similarly, he croons about him defiantly confronting his past love. The sadboy identity of Joesef comes from his soft sultry voice, one that sounds always misty. In I Wonder Why, his voice seems to carry along the steam of a sauna that eventually turns into his lover’s breath on his neck when he sings “I can’t seem to get you out my head/ Feel your kiss with every single breath”. As it transits to Comedown, his voice liquidises and becomes more lucid, quietly groaning the pain of losing his first love, while he is recalling memories and acknowledging reality.
Despite being compared to Sam Smith or dressing himself in the fashion of Troye Sivan and Lauv, our sadboy Joesef picks the more traditional style to craft his modern pop songs and echo his sentimental thoughts. Joesef’s second EP is a notable work that joins the force of queer music and gives bedroom musicians a belief that their DIY art deserves to come out to the world.
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NEW SINGLE – DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD – OUT NOW
NEW EP – DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD – OUT NOW
Does It Make U Feel Good
EP Tracklist
Everything Belongs To You
The Sun Is Up Forever
Does It Make You Feel Good?
I Wonder Why (ft. Loyle Carner)
Think That I Don’t Need Your Love
Comedown
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Follow JOESEF
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JOESEF
2021 Tour Dates
8 May | Voodoo, Belfast
9 May | IE The Workmans Club, Dublin
11 May | Headrow House, Leeds
12 May | O2 Academy 2, Newcastle
13 May | La Belle Angele, Edinburgh
15 May | O2 Institute 3, Birmingham
16 May | YES – Pink Room, Manchester
17 May | Loft, Liverpool Arts Club
19 May | Thekla, Bristol
20 May | Hoxton Hall, London
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JOESEF
releases new EP
‘DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD’
Out Now
+ NEW VIDEO FOR TITLE TRACK AND NEW SINGLE
DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD
Check out the full news post HERE
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