The engaging 18-year old singer/songwriter Josh Moreira delivered a bumper release to his South African supporters on Friday 30 July with his debut EP Homegrown. His second single off the EP as well as its music video; “Fingertips”, is also available across all digital platforms. Josh did all this before he heads overseas to fulfil a life-long ambition to study in the USA in early August.
The 7-track EP is available download / stream on all digital platforms (via Distrokid). The new single “Fingertips” is available HERE. The 1st single from the EP, “Nike Airs” is also available HERE.
More info about Josh Moreira
His teenage years belie his music credentials, having been musical all his life. He picked up a guitar at the age of 4 and began learning songs by ear. Fourteen years later he now adds piano, ukulele and bass to the mix.
Josh wrote his first song at the age of 8 and has already had multiple single releases under his belt, all receiving great critical acclaim and radio rotation on many popular local stations. These releases include Falling Apart (2018 – when he was just 15), Ablaze (2019) and more recently, the first single from the Homegrown EP; Nike Airs in 2020 which talks about having anxiety during lockdown.
Lockdown struck in 2020 when Josh was in matric, and he decided to give himself a new challenge; to put out music that was one hundred percent JOSH. Josh has a knack for storytelling and his debut EP most certainly reflects that.
Josh Moreira Reflects on 2020
“Homegrown crept up on me quietly. I had made portions of songs that weren’t much on their own, but once I listened through all of them, it hit me. This could be my debut EP if I put in a bit more work. And so, in the height of lockdown, I worked for the entirety of April and May in 2020 to get all these songs finished.”
“After a difficult matric year, I began to learn how to mix and master, only fully completing Homegrown in June of 2021. Although that seems like a long time to complete an EP of only seven songs, I aimed for as much perfection as my bedroom studio could give me.”
More info about Homegrown
What sets Homegrown apart from others for a young talent like Josh is that it’s all 100% JOSH. In true lockdown fashion, he wrote, laid down the vocals, played all musical instruments, mixed, mastered and produced it all himself. Then he went on to film and produce his own music video for “Fingertips”.
Check out the video below:
Josh took inspiration from Jeremy Zucker and Jon Bellion for the 7-track EP, using their genius and storytelling techniques to add to his own creations so he could create an art piece rather than a meaningless combination of sounds.
This EP will always remind Josh of home. It’s as raw as it could be for him. Sitting for hours into the night trying to fix certain issues with songs and then climbing into a bed not even a metre away was a dream come true for him. He was finally living the fantasy of his 4-year old self. His music was finally coming to fruition, right there in his bedroom.
He now has the exciting opportunity to head to the USA where he has enrolled in a 2-year study programme in Business Administration & Management at Jamestown Community College in the state of New York.
He flies out to Newark, USA in early August to quarantine in accordance with Covid-19 regulations, before orientation and studies begin later in the month. The long-term goal is to use the knowledge gained while in North America to start his own record label.
But first – his short term goal besides studying, is to immerse himself in the American music culture and use the time to hone his new skills of production, song-writing, and mixing to ensure they are comparative to those of his idols.
Josh comments on this venture
“I am nervous and excited to head out to the unknown but this has always been a dream of mine to challenge myself and study overseas and make a name for myself with regards to my music. I want to use this time to soak up as much knowledge and first-hand experience as I can. I know that I’m going to miss home a lot, though. South Africa is where my roots are, where my history is.”
“It’s time for a new journey. But before I do that, I felt there was no better time to release Homegrown. This is my ‘goodbye’ and ‘thank you’ to everyone who’s supported me. This is me. This is authentic. This is Homegrown.”
I wish Josh all of the best with his future musical endeavours.
Watch this space for updates in the Music News category on Running Wolf’s Rant.
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