Joshua Idehen is a spoken word artist, poet, musician, and mainstay of the jazz and electronic scene. His poems feature on The Comet Is Coming’s album Channel The Spirit (Mercury Prize nominated) and Sons of Kemet’s albums Your Queen Is A Reptile and Black Is The Future (MOBO Award winning).
He also formed a spiritual jazz crew, Calabashed, with Alabaster DePlume, and collaborated with L.A. electronic maestro Daedelus on the critically acclaimed mini-album, Holy Water Over Sons. Earlier this year, Joshua released his collaboration with Metronomy, titled With Balance. His recent single ‘All You Can Do Is Try’ was also remixed by Swedish DJs Bella Boo and Mr. Tophat.
Following his 2023 mixtape, Learn To Swim (“a poetic masterpiece” – Afropunk), Joshua Idehen continues his solo project in 2024 with a fresh four-track EP, Mum Does The Washing. Crafted alongside producer and instrumentalist Ludvig Parment, this record fuses poetry with modern club sounds in a natural, free-flowing way that walks the line between a profound and dance-inducing listen.
The EP opens with spoken-word piece ‘Mum Does The Washing’, which centres around the sage wisdom of a mother who explains the world one article of clothing at a time. Walking the line between education and entertainment with this simple, profound and humorous poem, ‘Mum Does The Washing’ has already gained fans with Jamz Supernova, Huw Stephens, Matt Everitt and Robbie Williams.
The second single is ‘Could Be Forever’, a slow-burning moment of human interaction and the awe-inspiring experience of love. From the outside looking in, the listener is exposed to two characters’ humble self-sacrifice as they do their utmost to care for their loved ones.
“I have these two stories: one was of the immigrant who manned the toilets at a bar I worked at. He was a dentist back in his hometown and was making money in London to send back for his daughter’s school: he was so proud of them! The second was of a neighbour, an Old Kenyan taking care of his Swedish wife who was slowly slipping away from him. These stories teach me about a love that goes beyond anything I have personally felt. I am in awe of them, and this song is my way of honoring them.”
Next is focus track ‘Tactics For Survival’, which opens with an arresting piano motif courtesy of Estonian pianist Hanakiv that sets the tone for this insightful number that explores ways of coping. Joshua once again shows his lyrical abilities against a minimalist backdrop that gradually builds out into a meditative, indie-dance floor-filler.
“This was the very first thing Ludvig and I worked on during the pandemic. I was obsessed with “coping”: how different cultures, communities and people dealt with living under lockdown. We shelved it for a while until we met the amazing pianist Hanakiv at a festival. She sent us some of her piano stems and when Ludvig made a track from them, it felt like the right home for the verse.”
Joshua Idehen closes out his EP with a dazzling cover of Talking Heads’ iconic 1980 single ‘Once In A Lifetime’ which ponders all the possibilities that life can offer. One can imagine the British-born Nigerian artist looking around at his new life in Sweden and questioning “how did I get here?” Not only does he deal with a sense of gratitude but also self-doubt, which can sneak its way into our psyche when things are going seemingly all too well. Overall, this closing number feels optimistic, propelled with the gospel choir singing “letting the days go by.”
Following the release of Mum Does The Washing EP on 8th November, Joshua will be returning to London for a special headline show at MOTH Club on 7th December.