Photo credit: Sam Ehrnstein
Ahead of the release of his sophomore album What Golden Hues, Josie Lockhart unleashed his first single 'Every Kind of Light' on October 18th, a foot stomping americana filled listen, that will grab your attention from the moment you hit play.
After Austin synth-pop group Sphynx went on hiatus in 2019, frontman Aaron Miller found himself adrift. "I had hundreds of songs on my hard drives in various stages of completion, all over the place," Miller says. "So much of my identity was wrapped up in trying to be a successful musician that I started to wonder if it was healthy. I tried to put it down for a while." Miller spent a few months working to remove the expectations he had set for himself and reconnect with the songwriting process. "I realised itʼs something I need for myself, I donʼt feel right unless Iʼm putting together an album in my head." Miller continued to tinker in his South Austin home studio and it wasnʼt long before he emerged with a sonic identity that blended his synth-pop background with the americana and twang he had grown up around.
Miller introduced his Josie Lockhartmoniker with the 2021 release of Santa Rosa, mixed by Chris Coady (Beach House, Grizzly Bear, Future Islands), the album went on to be featured on the BBC, NPR, American Songwriter, Obscure Sound and Fresh On The Net, as well as picking up radio-play in the US, UK, Australia, Spain, and Brazil. "Making Santa Rosa was a cathartic experience," says Miller, who performed and recorded the album entirely by himself. "That album broke some kind of seal, and I just kept putting songs together." Two months after the release of Santa Rosa, Miller holed up at his familyʼs home in Durango, Colorado and assembled a collection of 11 tracks for Josie Lockhartʼs sophomore album, What Golden Hues.
Instead of the DIY recording style of his debut, Miller opted for a full-on studio production. Enlisting the help of producer Carey McGraw (Wild Child, Modern Medicine), Miller took his self-produced version of the album and reconstructed it, bringing in talented studio musicians from Austin and Nashville and spending hours in McGrawʼs Club Sound Machine studio recording and editing. Steve Christensen (Khruangbin, Leon Bridges, Steve Earle) was tapped to mix What Golden Hues and give the album its warm, lived-in feel. What Golden Hues takes Santa Rosaʼs americana thread and runs with it. The album features steel guitar, wurlitzer, and saxophone on a bed of analog synth; heartland rock with a modern spin. Millerʼs lyrics are earnest, and the melodies and harmonies soar. The upcoming album signifies a return to his roots. "I wanted to draw from the well of music I grew up listening to, Lucinda Williams, Bruce Springsteen, Townes Van Zandt," Miller says. The playing is masterful and the production shines. Where Santa Rosa introduced an artist, What Golden Hues reveals a songwriter in his prime, an artist fully formed.
Josie wrote 'Every Kind of Light' and recorded the demo in his South Austin home studio. After that, he took it to Carey McGraw at Club Sound Machine Studios in Lockhart, TX and brought in session players from Austin and Nashville to help produce a studio version of the track. The new single offers a tasteful glimpse of What Golden Hues, promising an incredible new era for the hard-working artist.
When it comes to the specific meaning behind his addictive new single, Josie has channelled into an honest theme of fulfilment that comes with growing up: "This is a song about a feeling of contentment and understanding that comes as you become an adult. After searching and feeling like you're falling short of your goals in your 20s, I've found some peace with my station in life as a dad in my 30s, and a great deal of gratitude. I needed that wanderlust to get here though."
FFO: Kurt Vile, MJ Lenderman, The War on Drugs, Fruit Bats, The Shins
Josie Lockhart can be found here:
What Golden Hues Artwork
Credit: Ricky Valenzuela