I discovered indie singer-songwriter Josh Joplin in 2002 when he released The Future is Now with the Josh Joplin Group. I was a year out from finishing college after dropping out twice, a few months after getting out of a difficult, years-long relationship, and just a few months shy prior to meeting my current wife. I was drawn to the album because of the simplicity and catchiness of the music and the introspective lyrics of songs such as “Must Be You,” “Listening,” and “I Am Not the Only Cowboy” that I easily identified with at that particular time in my life; a time when I felt sad, hopeless and restless, impatient to finish school and confused about love.
It was, for a while, the soundtrack of my life.
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I eventually graduated college, got married, bought a small house, had a couple of kids, and traded in a bunch of my old CDs—including The Future is Now—to a used bookstore, partly because I didn’t feel like I needed them anymore due to the rise of iTunes, but partly because I was purging all of the things associated with that brief, painful time in my life.
For years, I had forgotten about the Josh Joplin Group, although Joplin continued to put out music as part of his folk-rock collective he had been a part of since 2009, Among the Oak & Ashe.
It turns out, though, that he too left the Josh Joplin Group behind for more than a decade, taking a self-imposed hiatus to focus on raising his daughter.
So I was surprised and delighted to see the return of the Josh Joplin Group with its newest album, GpYr (Pronounced Gap Year), which releases on April 4.
GpYr marks the first time since 2013 that Joplin has put out music with his old band. This album, a collection of pop-infused gems that, with help of producer Lorenzo Wolff (Taylor Swift’s Midnights and Folklore), captures the raw energy of Joplin’s earlier works—partucularly The Future is Now—but with the musical and lyrical layers of the older, wiser musician Joplin has become.
The instrumentation is simple, with both electric and acoustic guitar, drums, and piano; staples of Joplin’s work. But then there’s the occasional surprise of other instruments popping up, like the plucking of a kalimba, or the push-pull of an accordion, or my favorite, the saxophone solo on “Upstate,” a darkly romantic track with a tempo that starts slowly, turning into an optimistic, head-bopping mantra about hope and love everlasting.
“Before The Light Takes Us,” is a clear stand out. Accompanied by his daughter on vocals, the eighth track on the album is a mellow rocker, complete with the sharp pangs of electric guitar, the clashing of drums and cymbals, and a driving guitar solo that emphasizes the desperateness of the doomed lovers Joplin sings about in the song.
Joplin’s true gift has always been in his lyrics, and GpYr is no exception. Each song tells a deeply personal story exuding emotion and an uncanny relatability. “Predator and Prey,” the album’s last track, is a song about trauma and survival, with Joplin singing as an anthem, “We are the ones, the ones who survive / We are the ones who survive / Love doesn’t ever look down.”
If one song could sum up Joplin’s hiatus and return to the Josh Joplin Group and the time in between, it’s “One More Someone.” With lyrics such as “When all the endings are over / And you’re only just older / There’s never doubt / What you take with you / Won’t the issue / It’s what you leave without,” it’s a song about life experiences, lessons learned, and perspectives gained. It’s about stepping away, looking back and moving forward.
GpYr is an introspective musical journey that, via Joplin’s own experiences, allows us to ponder all of life’s transitions and celebrate who we once were, who we are now, and who we are yet to be.
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