Bluebell Wood (2023) – Frank Joshua

I first heard Bluebell Wood by UK artist Frank Joshua when it featured at Eclectic Music Lover. According to various interviews on his personal web site this intriguing singer songwriter doesn’t use his face or image, for promotion which is unusual in the social media age. He prefers to let the music create the buzz and not the face.

I think I realised a few years ago that social media took over everything that we became so hyper aware of characters and personalities more than the content they were creating. I think it was Beyonce who said a little while ago. You really didn’t know what Nina Simone looked like, but now you know what an artist had for breakfast and what they feel about abortion. Things like that, before you get to listen to their music…

Frank Joshua started playing in bands and writing songs at school when he was 16 in Reading. He stated that he didn’t mean for it become a career but it kept coming back to him whenever he tried to leave it alone. At 18 he moved to London to do the whole music scene. He was influenced by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Prince, The Beatles and David Bowie.

‘I’m not afraid to jump genres and work in a counter-intuitive way with remixers and collaborators.  I work up from the song each time, which feels like an old-fashioned way of doing things, but it works for me.

When you are doing the actual writing part, the real trick is to get out of your own way’.

I consider Bluebell Wood a fantastic piece of Pop. I especially love how a warm, breezy state envelopes me when Frank sings the following:

Kipinging on a mountain top,
Skipping down to Bluebell Wood
I saw you,
Flowers in your hair
Laid open to a clear blue sky and
Holding close as clouds go by
I wonder,
Is Bluebell Wood really there?

Regarding Bluebell Wood, Frank Joshua said:

I’m such a fan of the pop song. It’s the thing I’m drawn to whatever I’m listening to. The lyric comes from the uncertainty of new love and the anxiety of not knowing quite where the other person is at and the concern that what you feel might not be reciprocated.

So if I asked and really really meant it
Not that I wouldn’t but not that I do
And if I said it like I wasn’t joking
Jokes apart,
what would you do?

Just suppose you do the asking
Just for a laugh but not just for fun
And if you said it like you really meant it
What would I do,
not that I’m jumping the gun

We could talk about the weather
Pretend we hadn’t heard
Talk about the nicest things
The nicest things
that might not get us hurt

Kipinging on a mountain top,
Skipping down to Bluebell Wood
I saw you,
Flowers in your hair
Laid open to a clear blue sky and
Holding close as clouds go by
I wonder,
Is Bluebell Wood really there?

Guess we got most of what we asked for
Guess we got more than most
More than enough might be too greedy
So maybe not to ask is best

For more information from Frank Joshua I point you to the insightful interview in the third reference below. Here are some of the Press’ feedback to his music:
“A timeless universe of melodic pop” – Rock Era Magazine
“So hooky and addictive it’s crazy” – Sound Won’t Stop
“Beautiful and timeless” – Pop Magazine
“Sophisticated, opinionated, and authentic” – Making a Scene

Frank Joshua also remarked, ‘We spend a lot of time producing music videos that I think are also quite interesting and challenging. We try and use imagery that both represent the song and provokes people to think..‘ The music video below was directed by Diego Monfredini and inspired by the animations of Wladyslaw Starewicz from the 1930s.

References:
1. Fresh New Tracks, Vol. 23 – Frank Joshua, Ryan Redwood, Scoopski – Eclectic Music Lover
2. Frank Joshua
3. The Music Series: Frank Joshua audio interview – The Sunday Night Army