MacD on Music: 'Teeth of Time'

In this job, when I talk to a band or artist for the first time, one of the first questions I usually ask them is who was their main musical influences. Some names I hear popping up a lot, usually depending on the type of music they’re making. Among the singer/songwriters, some of the most common include people like Phoebe Bridgers, Gregory Alan Isakov and, the subject of this week’s column, Joshua Burnside.

Joshua Burnside is a Belfast-based folk singer who has, to date, released five albums, the most recent of which, ‘Teeth of Time’, came out just last week. Described as “ambitious, foreboding and provocative”, his music blends “lush Irish folk and tense electronica” and is “representative of the new folk revival that has captivated audiences” up and down the country and beyond.

I caught up with Joshua recently to talk a bit about his new album and his career up to this point, including his musical origins:

“I got a keyboard when I was about ten and it showed you how to learn different tunes. The first things I learned were ‘House of the Rising Sun’ and ‘Greensleeves’ and that kind of stuff. My mum and dad loved music and my dad played guitar. I think the idea was that I was going to get piano lessons, but I quickly realised that guitar was cooler. I got an electric guitar when I was eleven or twelve and started playing that.

"There was a lot of us, and we were all into music, especially rock and grunge, stuff like Nirvana and The Offspring. I had a band with two mates, and we played in Newtownards sometimes. It was a lot of fun and I started writing my own songs then and recording then and recording them in the house when I was maybe fourteen or fifteen.”

“There was just something about expressing myself in this form that I found really satisfying and I just kept at it. I never really thought of it being a job or a career, I just did it because it was fun. By the time I was in my twenties I was like ‘What am I going to do now?’ so I just kept writing songs.”

I asked him who he considered his main influences: “It sort of changes day to day and album to album. I made a wee playlist of stuff I was listening to at the time of writing the last record. Loads of Irish artists like Lemon Cello as well people like Joni Mitchell, Richard Dawson, Tom Waits, a band called The Books, Paul Brady. The list is endless. I listen to a lot of music. It’s hard to say where one song comes from. I like it all.”

Next, we spoke about the new album: “The new record is a collection of songs that I wrote in the last three or four years. It took a lot of time to get it together. I had my first son, and it changed my life a lot, in good ways. It changed my perspective on things, and it really informs the songwriting and the lyrics, just about time and growing up and getting older.

"It’s the first album where I recorded every element myself, including the drums and bass and everything. I mixed it and had it mastered in Belfast by Joel Harkin. It feels way more D.I.Y. than my previous records. I wanted that sound to be apparent. I didn’t want it to sound polished. I wanted to be a bit rough around the edges anyway. I’ve been really happy with the record and I’m really happy for people to hear it.”

READ MORE: MacD on Music

Finally, I asked Joshua about his plans for the future: “We have a tour booked all through March and April then we’re playing our first real headline tour in Europe, in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands in June. Then possibly over to North America in the Autumn, so it’s all go at the minute.

"I’ve actually finished writing most of the songs for my next album, the one I’m thinking of recording after ‘Teeth of Time’, so I’ve been busy songwriting. I’ve had a few very fruitful months of songwriting, so I’m actually excited about the next album when the other one hasn’t even come out yet [at the time of our chat].”

And that’s it from Joshua Burnside. His new album ‘Teeth of Time’ is out now, and he can be found on Facebook and Instagram @joshuaburnside.