Sometimes songs, like the real life they’re supposed to reflect, don’t give us happy endings. Heartaches happen, the pain endures and all we can do as we grieve is get lost in the music of an artist who seems to understand our loss and struggle. Los Angeles based singer songwriter Joseph Roberts gets in touch with these stark realities while finding a way to soothe the sorrow for about three minutes on his latest single “Something Beautiful Won’t Come Out.”
It’s a beautiful, heartrending slice of hypnotic electro-dream pop that uses swirling atmospheres and sea and sky imagery to let us know it’s human to experience these things – and maybe it’s better to embrace them than paint a smile on every day. Also known by his cool branding concept of Painted Into Things, Roberts has a sweet, tender reassuring voice whose tone falls somewhere in between chief influences like James Taylor, Michael Franks, The Smiths and Morrissey.
On this increasingly seductive track, it serves to remind us that when we emerge from our adrift moment, the new normal will somehow be okay. Famed producer Rupert Hine (The Fixx, Howard Jones, Stevie Nicks) calls “an artist with something to say.” We can only hope that in the future, Roberts will find as enticing a way to help us confront reality while giving us a reason to hang on and plow through.
Listen here: