The Flame (2020)

Hey everyone,
Hope you're all well and staying safe safe!

I'm sure you don't need me to go into details so... lets just say there's a lot going on in the world right now and the safest place for us to be at the moment is in our homes. Hopefully things will start to look up sooner rather than later but, in the meantime, many of us (myself included) have suddenly found ourselves with a lot of extra time on our hands.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend that a chunk of that time hasn't been spent binge-watching Netflix & YouTube whilst getting fat on quarantine snacks, however, I have also been spending time being productive (believe it or not)😉

And, as a result of that time spent, I present to you... The Flame (2020)! 🥳

LISTEN & DOWNLOAD HERE!

This is an arrangement based on my original acoustic version that I've been gradually developing for a while with the intentions of possibly using it for live performance. 

I was 18 when I wrote The Flame and it's been quite a few years since I released it (eek 😬) and I feel like The Flame (2020) is the most mature version of the song. Unfortunately, due to social distancing rules, Poppy couldn't be featured on this version but hopefully one day we'll get to play it together!

It's also worth noting that this arrangement features the extra verse at the end, which I (inexplicably) didn't include in the original acoustic version despite it being my favourite part of the whole song!

The mix of this is track pretty "bare bones" (if that makes sense) and I've mentioned in the past that the reason I haven't been so prolific lately is because I'm kind of limited in terms of recording resources at the moment whilst saving for some new equipment, so I'm taking time out to focus on writing so that I can come back with something I hope you'll truly love!

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share this with you! I know a few of you seem to particularly enjoy the original versions of this song and I hope you love this new arrangement too!

Like most of my music, this song is available to download at a no minimum "name your price" (if you want it for free, you can have it for free!) from http://joshstarmer.bandcamp.com or  https://soundcloud.com/joshstarmermusic

If you like what I do, I would really appreciate it if you like and share this song with your friends and family! Your support means the world ❤️
Also, if anybody fancies making a remix or cover of this, please get in touch! I'd love to hear 'em!

Thank you for listening! Now it's time to go back to the drawing board and figure out what I can do next 🤪

Stay home and stay safe 😇

'Songs EP 1' - OUT NOW!!!!!!

'Songs EP 1′ - OUT NOW!!!!!!

Please listen, enjoy, and share with everyone you know. 

The EP is available to download in it’s entirety from BandCamp, no minimum spend.

Please CLICK HERE to read a blog I posted earlier talking about my thoughts, concept and inspiration behind each of the songs on the EP.

Thank you always for your support.

Two albums that define me....

Hi everyone!

I've had this idea in my head for a while now, but I've been debating whether or not to write it as it would involve revealing quite a lot about me. Anyway, I've finally decided that I think it would make a fun/interesting blog post. so here are two albums that define me.

Please note, both of these albums are undoubtedly amongst my favourite albums, this isn't a "favourite albums" list. These are albums that I feel some form of strong personal connection with, albums that provided a soundtrack to moments of my life story, or a soundtrack to a part of my personality.

So, here goes....

1.

Poses by Rufus Wainwright

What an interesting album to start off with! I'll start by saying that I have yet to come across an album I relate to more than Poses. For those familiar with Rufus and this album, I'm well aware that one of the core themes of this album is Rufus' struggle with drug addiction that he was experiencing at the time. Please don't worry! I'm not, nor have I ever, had any experience with addiction of that sort. I'm saying that I relate to many of the other themes that Rufus addresses throughout this album.

I started listening to Rufus when I was about 18, but I had a very difficult connecting to Poses at that time. Now that I'm 22 (about five or six years younger than Rufus when he wrote this album) I feel like I relate to it more than ever. I can only imagine that, over time, my connection with this album will grow even stronger.

I won't say too much about how I relate to it exactly, as that would mean delving into the depths of my personal life, but the character Rufus centred this album around, a young, non-heterosexual male with a passion for city life and filled with ambition, is very easy to identify with, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. I think the part of this album that I identify with the most is the way Rufus writes about the idea of love and lust, not necessarily the romantic encounters he writes about in this record, but his relationship with romance as a concept.

I feel that, while I find this album relatable, it's also helped me to understand a lot about myself that I perhaps hadn't made the effort to understand before.

2.

Speak For Yourself by Imogen Heap

This album was life-changing for me. I soon learnt that there are a number of artists who have recorded in home studios and produced their own records before Imogen, but this was the first time I had heard a record created by a "D-I-Y" artist. Imogen released this album on her own record label, recorded the album in her home studio, wrote/produced every song by herself and performed most of the instruments. It might sound silly, but before hearing this record and learning about how it was created, I had no idea it was possible for people to do that! 

It was around 2007 when I bought this album, so I was 14. This album proved to be so inspirational to me, because it encouraged me to learn how to write songs and produce my own music. Now, that's exactly what I do! Without hearing this album at the time that I did, who knows what I would be doing now?!

Thank you so much for reading this, I'm planning to share the stories behind even more albums that define me in the future!

Josh :-)

New blog!

Hi everyone!

Welcome to my new blog!

This blog is going to be my lifestyle blog. I'm going to write about all kinds of different things on here!

My posts will be about everything from stories from my own personal life, my hobbies and interests. There's going to be things such as product recommendations, reviews and much more!

I'm really looking forward to using this blog, so please follow me!

If you'd like to know more about who I am and what I do, please check out the information and links to my other social media!
They can be found on the right-hand side of my homepage

Thank you for reading,
Josh :-)