Experimental songwriter Joshua Burnside has announced the release of his latest EP ‘Late Afternoon In The Meadow (1887)’, on 18th November 2022. His first new music of the year comes ahead of his biggest headline show to date at The Ulster Hall in Belfast on December 23rd with support from Lemoncello.
Ahead of the EP release, Joshua will release the title track as a single on Fri Sept 16th, watch the accompanying video below (pre-save it here).
‘Late Afternoon…’ is the story of a life without opportunity, following a character lost in the labyrinth cul-de-sacs of working-class Belfast, caught between mountain and motorway. The motorway in question is the Westlink, a ‘river of concrete that is as much a barrier to progress and movement for the citizens of Belfast as the peace walls. A solid, grey, sheer monument to the division found in the city; it plays the main stage as Burnside narrates an unfortunately familiar story of declining mental health amidst economic strife.
‘Late Afternoon...’ paints a bleak picture of the city but also presents a warmer frame and hope for the future. Featuring Burnside’s trademark penchant for looping found sounds, ancient recordings and experimental production together with the traditions of Irish folk and alternative music’ the track captures the beauty and turmoil of the songwriter’s home.
“Belfast was redesigned for military, social and economic reasons during the late end of the century. It was rebuilt to suit a car-driving suburban middle class, which is why the centre is mostly encircled by car parks, empty buildings, empty land and motorways twisting and rising above or below you. It is sadly apt then, that people wishing to take their own life, often choose the Westlink as the place to do it, jumping from the bridges that cross it. This song is about someone at the end of their tether. And if you are feeling this way, then I dedicate this song to you.
I wrote this one after returning from the south of France. I’m normally glad to be home, but it was a particularly grey and blustery day. On days like this, the city can feel like a very bleak place, and so I wrote a very bleak song. But there is hope in it too, hope for a kinder society, a life that is softer on the soul. Belfast seldom resembles a french impressionist painting, but it is my home and it has its own beauty.” – Joshua Burnside
The video, shot and coloured by Nathan Magee, opens to what appears to be a vintage film of a garden, alive with vibrant, colourful flowers. The sort of scene that may have captured the imagination of the impressionist painter Camille Pissaro who is named in the song and whose painting – ‘Late Afternoon in Our Meadow’, painted in 1887, inspires the title.
Upon renting a house and farm in the village of Eragny outside of Paris in 1884, Pissarro wrote to Paul Durand-Ruel, his art dealer, and said ‘I haven’t been able to restrain myself from painting, so beautiful are the motifs that surround my garden.’ The contrast between Belfast and the meadows of Pissarro’s Eragny is a reminder that we do not choose where we are born or where we call home…
While Burnside hits us from the opening lines with the weight of a lost soul, burdened by debt and lost dreams, his lyrics are laced with beautiful compassion and hope that stay with you long after the song ends.
Somewhere warmer
Kinder
Softer on the soul
Like the Mothers hand
The honeycomb
Skies of Pissarro
Later afternoon in the Meadow
1887
The single, Late Afternoon in the Meadow (1887), is released on Friday, 16th September 2022 – pre-save
Joshua is currently residing in Paris, where he was invited to record his third album, due out in late 2023. His latest EP, Late Afternoon In The Meadow (1887), will be released on November 18th 2022.
Joshua Burnside plays The Ulster Hall in Belfast on December 23rd with support from Lemoncello. Tickets here: https://www.ulsterhall.co.uk/what-s-on/joshua-burnside/
https://linktr.ee/Joshua_Burnside