Joesef

When: 24th March 2023
Location: Barrowland

Joesef is the East End Coast soul star from Glasgow. Coming to Glasgow’s Barrowland on 24th March 2023.

Representing the multilayers of the Scottish singer’s character and heart, over the past two years we have all witnessed an artist who has grown from bedroom pop to master and co-producer of new soul born from new heartbreak. Writing songs that are nakedly, wrenchingly honest, but with a sense of humour that “underlines the harsh punchline”, Joesef today reveals the anthemic new single ‘Joe’, lifted from Permanent Damage.

‘Joe’ introduces the overarching theme of the album: the permanent damage and the cost of loving deeply, and how that stays, like a scar, with you. “It’s about grieving for a version of myself that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get back,” says Joesef. But in the Glaswegian’s typical tongue-in-cheek manner, the negative relationship Joesef has with himself, Joe, is transformed into the upbeat, Fleetwood Mac-inspired future dancefloor favourite, questioning the universal feeling of never perceiving yourself to be good enough.

The magnetic power of ‘Joe’ live has already set audiences alight this summer, seeing fans with “their arms in the air holding each other singing the chorus” at hometown festival Otherlands, Reading & Leeds Festival, and his stunning intimate live shows at London’s iconic 100 Club and King Tuts in Glasgow to celebrate Permanent Damage, as well as his biggest ever UK and European tour to date in March and April 2023. ‘Joe’, as well as the sublime recent singles ‘East End Coast’ and ‘It’s Been A Little Heavy Lately,’ all introduce the tone for an album that captures the anxiety and heartache of confrontation with a new self, from a queer kid who grew up in a city of bullshit-free, grasp-the-thistle honesty at all the times. Finding home away from one’s home, Glasgow, is at the heart of Permanent Damage.

Known for his cinematic visuals

Known for his cinematic visuals, drawing inspiration from films such as Trainspotting,  Kids and Beats, Joesef has worked with longtime collaborator Luis Hindman on the official video for ‘Joe,’ depicting a tumultuous relationship centred in his flat in London, which shows the echoes and ghosts of a past lover, and self. Luis Hindman also directed the stunning ‘East End Coast’, which was evocative of the scenes and the queer community captured in Jeremy Artherton Lin’s ‘Gay Bar’ and Wolfgang Tillman photography, and praised by Attitude Magazine as a “celebration of queer intimacy”. Understanding he was queer from an early age, but “the kids made fun of my trainers more than my sexuality,” Joesef was raised in his tight-knit community of East End Glasgow to celebrate his identity and understand it.

Parallels have been drawn between author and new friend Douglas Stuart’s experience as a queer man growing up in Glasgow, documented in his Booker Prize winning novel Shuggie Bain and recent offering Young Mungo. “I feel like I’ve downplayed the things I went through as a result of growing up queer in Glasgow. Just because it serves me no purpose to rehash it with myself.

But, aye, it’s so nice to have that outlet after all these years of biting my tongue, walking in a certain way, talking in a certain way, just to avoid getting my head kicked in. As much as I can defend myself and handle myself – and I’ve got two older brothers – it was always better just to blend in a wee bit. And I feel like I would have got into music a bit earlier if it wasn’t for that mentality, of not wanting to upset the rhythm.” says Joesef.

Moved to London

Moving to London last year, the only place that felt like home was the studio with Ivor Novello Award Winning producer Barney Lister (Obongjayar, Joy Crookes, Celeste), who has co-produced with Joesef debut album Permanent Damage. During an intense period of creation and hedonism in the uncharted city, Joesef developed his craft, confiding in Yorkshireman Barney, which felt like “therapy everyday”. Containing the motifs we have come to love the BBC Sound of 2020 star for seeking pain and pleasure in heartbreak, addiction to the afterglow of a relationship, and throwing his heart into the “fire” again and again, on tracks lifted from Permanent Damage, we are immersed in the delicacy of his songwriting, with dance-floor late night anthem ‘It’s Been A Little Heavy Lately’ and the brooding single ‘Fire’.

Having supported Mercury nominated Arlo Parks at Shepherds Bush earlier this year, only to headline the same venue a month later, Joesef has bewitched audiences across the country and played his most raucous homecoming show at the 2,500-capacity Glasgow’s O2 Academy in May, but not before his “f***ing mad” moment at the iconic Barrowland Ballroom, having blizzarded the city with flyers a few years before for his first pub gig at King Tuts.

Joesef’s Debut EP

It was only nine months after pulling pints that Joesef was catapulted into the public arena in 2019 with his immaculate, critically acclaimed debut EP Play Me Something Nice, whilst being lauded by Sam Smith to Mark Ronson for his “sad boy bangers”, the 26-year-old has a talent for capturing soul and the nerve of a song. His new music shows the astounding development of a self-taught artist, exploring new realms with production, but always centred on the vast emotional weight of his lyricism, self described as “pure working class torch songs”’.

Not coming from a musical family, but owing his musical references to his mum’s kitchen radio, with Al Green, The Cure, and The Mamas and the Papas playing all day in the background, Joesef’s exploration of the past is apparent in his deeply personal songwriting, having released his critically acclaimed second EP Does it Make You Feel Good? in 2020, which featured the lauded single ‘I Wonder Why’ with Loyal Carner. Garnering over 30 Million global streams, Joesef released a cover of Sister Sledge’s iconic ‘I’m Thinking Of You,’ showing the breadth of his soul, and stylistic influence of Northern Soul ballrooms.

Writing with such full-force candour as he enters his new phase, Joesef says: “When I hear people singing and I don’t buy it, it doesn’t move me. That’s your job as a musician: to move people, and give them music they can make their own and attach their own feelings to. That’s why and how I love music. A song can make my day, or ruin it. I love that.