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Joshua Radin – The Ghost and The Wall

Florian Buechting Media Review No Comments

Joshua Radin - The Ghost and The Wall

Joshua Radin - The Ghost and The Wall
3.3

Rating

 3.3/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very signature voice
  • Songs have a nice atmosphere

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Too many similar and monotonous tracks
  • Rare catching elements

Joshua Radin is a very interesting artist. A couple of his songs have more than thirty million Spotify streams each. The Ohio-origin singer-songwriter is already releasing his tenth album on 23rd July 2021. The ten tracks are published as The Ghost and The Wall. Here is my review.

 

Joshua Radin – About The Artist

Joshua Radin is a 47-year old US-American singer-songwriter, who is majorly active in the folk and pop genre. He was born on 14th June 1974 in Cleveland, Ohio. His family has Polish, Russian, German and Austrian background. He started learning the guitar in the very early 2000’s and released his debut album We Were Here in 2004. His breakthrough was his second major release, though. Simple Times (2008) made it to the Top 40 in the US overall album charts and was even Top 10 in the UK. The album also features is most successful single so far, I’d Rather Be With You. He kept good sales with his albums, especially in the USA. His voice is also very frequently used in movies and advertisement.

 

Joshua Radin – The Ghost and The Wall – Track by Track

The ten song album lasts 35 minutes.

1. Goodbye

The album opens with Goodbye, which is dominated by the somehow mysterious voice of Joshua Radin. The song comes with a lot of atmosphere. Good listen, great vocal performance. Nice starter to these ten courses of folk-pop, Joshua Radin style.

2. Fewer Ghosts

All I need to know is you – one of the key sentences of this second song, which partially even reminds me of Hawaiian sounds. Beautiful, gentle recording.

3. Better Life

The first three songs of The Ghosts and The Wall have been released before the album. Better Life was the initial appetizer to the fans of the US-American. Indeed, after two quiet, a bit dream-feeling tracks, Better Life features so much ease and happiness, you just enjoy and love the song, even if you haven’t been into Joshua Radin’s music before.

4. Make It Easy

Make It Easy was one of the tracks I listened to when I thought about sharing the album with you. I just loved the beautiful, gentle melody and vocal performance.

5. Hey You

Hey You is another really nice to listen to Americana track. More and more, I starting longing for songs which give some special flavor to this menu – a track like Better Life. The song is a nice listen – but finally, it does not add character to the album.

6. I’ll Be Your Friend

I’ll Be Your Friend becomes a bit more dramatic by the piano arrangement, the strings and the echo. I especially keep the Hallelujah moments of the song in mind.

7. You’re My Home

While thematically, You’re My Home connects to the predecessor, the sound is more powerful then in the songs before. Much more folk music style that in the songs before – especially the strumming of the guitars give a strong hint about Radin’s musical background.

8. Not Today

Not Today is a bit more pop-alike than other songs of the album – but overall, it strongly feels like a couple of other tracks on the album. Not bad, but not a song I kept in my mind for too long.

9. Till The Morning

The ballad Till The Morning definitely comes with a major mainstream radio potential – one of the better songs of the album, indeed.

10. Next To Me

The closing track of the album creates very quiet moments again. A nice listen, which is driven by the piano – but no song, which stays in your mind.

 

 

Joshua Radin – The Ghost and The Wall – Spotify

Here is The Ghost and The Wall on Spotify:

 

Joshua Radin – The Ghost and The Wall – My View

It feels very hard to me to review albums like The Ghost and The Wall. On the one hand, there is a lot of talent in these track. Joshua Radin is good in creating atmosphere, he is gifted with a very signature voice as well. But: he is not using it sufficiently, I feel. The songs are too limited. There are too few surprises, too few catching elements. None of the tracks is really bad – but they are just not made to catch the listener. Fans of the artist will likely praise and love the ten new tracks – but for me as a Joshua Radin newbie, I got too few reasons on this album to fall in love with his music.

 

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