Joshua Woo‘s brand new EP ‘Beyond The Glass’ is an ethereal six-track counting collection of hazy pop sounds and captivates the feeling of self acceptance. The opener of the EP instantly pulls us into what is a journey we won’t soon forget. Its warm and atmospheric vocals and colourful, dreamy soundscape make for a mesmerising listen.
The EP is a culmination of Woo’s work over a two year period and consists of singles that have previously been released. Together they form a story, all acting as a puzzle piece making up the bigger picture. We hear a soft alt pop sound on ‘Beyond The Glass’ and a rockier version of his refined bedroom pop on ‘Sunflower Seeds’, that second one even wears some elements of electro / new wave. ‘Future Tripping’ is a little hazier, more unhurried and driven by its hugging vocal harmonies. ‘Without The Fear’ is a more thumping and upbeat indie pop track with some hooking elements that make this one of our favourites of the EP.
About his new EP, Joshua says: “It wasn’t my intention initially to collect these songs into an EP. I was just releasing singles with no ambition to do a longer work. However, I played all the songs together in this particular order and it became apparent to me the songs told a whole different story together than they did when they were apart.” The coincidentally coming together of these songs tells us what we need to know about Woo as an artist; that the music is always the guiding factor.
On ’10-2-1′ we are brought into an enchanted forest that gives us an idea what his musical mind looks like, a misty folk land with subtle electronic beats brings a whole other genre to this piece of work. There is no way to place Joshua Woo within one genre, which is what makes him a great artist. Closer of the EP, ‘Goodbye’, is a warm and uplifting folk song that brings a close, a final chapter to the EP and has us longing for more once we are done listening to this EP for the first time… Let’s give it another spin, shall we?!
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