Joshua Scarratt: Freedom from care and the art of creativity: AN INTERVIEW

Words: Corey Bissell

I recently spoke to solo artist Joshua Scarratt, off the back of the release of his single 'Freedom from care' about his artistic processes, and how he views his sound, as well as touching on what comes next for his second EP set to release next year.

So how does Joshua view his sound?

"Someone asked me the other day and the answer that came to me was the same as when I put out my first EP and that was classic. There's a timeless quality to it and an acknowledgement that I’m not trying to strive for any trend that Is around now. It’s trying to be honest and pure.

I think with my solo work, it’s been very much a collaborative process with my friend Nick who works under the name Fast Money Music. Taking lyrics or melodies to him, the honesty comes in that approach when I’m in his studio I can see if there’s a word or a lyric that doesn’t feel real or genuine enough for a song, that relationship with him means I’m not protective, my ego doesn’t get in the way. There is a song we were working on last year, there are about 5 different versions of 5 different genre takes on this one song."

I asked Joshua, where do these ideas come from, before they reach Nick in the studio.

"For too many years I wasn’t writing these ideas down, there was almost a level of shame with these ideas that were coming in. since writing music again I think as I’m spending more time sober and having these ideas I think my understanding is that those aren’t my ideas, something is placing those in my head and its down to me as to whether I choose to go with that.

The initial ideas for my songs always begin on my own and it can be anywhere.

With my solo material I don’t get in my own way, with freedom from care my latest single, that’s a demo I found of me on an acoustic guitar, and we then built that up properly. I struggle to decide ‘I’m at home tonight I’m going to make some music’ but sometimes a feeling comes to me that I can go home and make the right guitar solo for a song without forcing that space

Freedom from care, I presented this acoustic and vocal version to Nick, he figured out what the chords were on the piano and added some more interesting bits. From there breathes a better vocal melody and it just creates this better song."

So with the background as to how Joshua perfects his craft, we spoke about what we can expect from his next release. And how his music breathes vulnerability

"I’ve already got the next single scheduled to come out around January, there’s definitely a very different sound going on, it’s much more traditional indie sound but who am I to say. I think what this next EP will do which the first one maybe didn’t is showcase the breadth of songwriting ability and sounds that I think I can achieve and ultimately interest me.

With time comes great conviction and ultimately knowing what you’re looking to achieve, if I’m pleasing myself with what each song is doing then I know that I’m on the right trajectory.

Before I release a song, I feel quite unsettled to be honest because it’s so honest and vulnerable that when I put it out there it feels like closing some doors, but I know it also opens others."

For Joshua's album recommendation he chose:

Cortex – Troupeaou Bleu is a really beautiful record, it was really nice to revisit that after it came up on my Spotify for the first time in a long while.

Outside of his next EP, Joshua has a headline show at the waiting room in London on February 12^th with more shows in the pipeline. Be sure to follow his socials to stay updated.