There’s a certain brand of quiet courage in acknowledging that the past hangs around longer than we’d prefer. With his latest offering, "Forget the Walk," the German songwriter Joshua Worts transforms that precarious instant between time standing still and continuing into an aching, stripped-down track that’s as naked as it is resonant.
Written and produced in Krefeld, Germany, Forget the Walk sees the duo adopt a sparser, more minimalist approach, allowing the weight of Joshua's words to hang heavy in the air and the sound of their guitars and voices to envelop the listener. It’s not a song that cowers behind fancy arrangements or studio ruses. Instead, it exposes itself, tender guitar chords supporting an achy vocal delivery that sounds like it’s teetering between memory and release. The result is disquieting, a bit like listening in on someone else’s internal monologue in the dark hours of the night.
The track grapples with memories, heartbreak, and the cantankerous details of memory that don’t disappear, even when moving on seems like the only option. It’s on a deep, personal level a private matter, but with an added sense of universality, that of an opportunity to hold one’s own experiences up to the mirror Joshua has courteously provided.
Since entering the indie and singer-songwriter worlds, Joshua has carved out a niche of emotional honesty with just a hint of artifice. His performances at SongSlams and independent showcases locally have always showcased his gift for weaving a poetic tale juxtaposed with stillness. "Forget the Walk" extends that arc, but it also signals a blossoming comfort with openness, an artist embracing the therapeutic process of song in full.
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