I also want to touch on the instrumental side of Easier. Can you tell me about the process behind that?
Joshua: Totally. It’s interesting — I think all four of those songs that I made in those same three days are in the key of D. I started tuning my guitar to open D to switch it up a little bit, because you can get stuck playing the same chords and get in a loop. When I changed to open D, it opened up a different world, and the songs just flowed out.
The way I operate in a room is I’ll start playing a guitar part, hit record for a voice memo, and improvise, like, 80% of the song in a few minutes. That’s just the way it works for me. A lot of times, artists have these spurts of flow-state moments, where you can go three hours without anything, and then all of a sudden you write an entire verse in two minutes. My practice is: How do you stretch out and keep tapping into that flow state for as long as possible?
I worked on almost every song with Nate Miles. He’s so good at knowing when to just hit record when I’m not paying attention. I’ll be sitting at the piano, and he’ll just toss me headphones, and then I’ll be walking around trying to finish the verse. I’ll go to a synth, start experimenting, and just kind of throw it in.
We got into this synergy, and that’s how we were able to make those songs in just a few days — and what you hear is pretty much the day-of demo. We just got rid of all the resistance and all the barriers between artist and art.
I also worked with a lot of different musicians who are a lot more talented than I am and have more diversity in what they’re able to play. As an artist, I think ego is the killer. You have to know your strengths and weaknesses. I give a lot of credit to the other people on this album for a lot of the musicianship that you hear.
I’m my happiest self when I’m in the studio. I feel free.
