The Pink Nostalgia has returned with his long awaited third EP ‘Youth & Observation’ bringing together the sounds of his previous releases as he shares messages from all aspects of his life, showcasing his personal experience with nothing held back. Each track tells a story, all with gorgeous instrumentation, impressive production and poignant, evocative vocal performances. Throughout the project, The Pink Nostalgia captures a huge range of different energies, whilst still keeping the project cohesive and beautiful in all its emotion and diversity.
On the new release, they share:
“Comprising of six tracks, my next EP, ‘Youth & Observation’, is a hyper-personal, 80s inspired journey that deals with my coming of age, relationships, mental health and sexuality. Inspired heavily by The Smiths, The Japanese House and Talking Heads, I’ve set out to create a tracklist that resembles the soundtrack to my teenage years. Each song is a snapshot of an experience, or series of experiences that I had during my adolescence, and my lyrics simply reflect upon that time, looking back from where I’m at now. The plan is always to make the lyrics impactful, reflective and emotional, while the music remains catchy and generally upbeat; a really delicate balance.
‘Who are you now?’ is a lucious and spacious, narrative driven track that discusses past relationships with people that no longer serve you, inspired by Yazoo’s ‘Only You’. The emotional weight of the EP comes in the form of the epic and anthemic ‘It’s Alright’, featuring singer-songwriter, Fran Lusty. Written as a letter to my younger self and a thank you to my parents, this song directly deals with my sexuality, and coming to terms with it. We close with ‘Space & Time’, a catchy indie-pop track that brings you back to Earth, drawing inspiration from the most upbeat offerings by The 1975 and The Japanese House. ‘Space & Time’ serves as the EP’s epilogue; if ‘Flowers’ was where I was before, ‘Space & Time’ is where I currently am now.”
The Pink Nostalgia is the indie pop solo project of North London-based artist Joseph James. The artist takes inspiration from the likes of The Japanese House, The 1975, The Cure, Talking Heads and Bon Iver, bringing these influences together to create a distinctly alternative sound that has all the right elements of commercial music.
This revitalising new sound has seen him rack up acclaim from tastemakers as well as build a loyal following, leading to selling out The Troubadour twice in the same year. Joseph also has previously supported the likes of Coach Party, Elijah Miller and Now Ex.
This EP cements 2023 as an incredibly exciting year for The Pink Nostalgia. With fresh sounds, deep connections and gorgeous storytelling, ‘Youth & Observation’, is a project that everyone should be paying attention to on its release.
