Josh Schwartz has been earning his wings in the music industry for more than a decade. You might know him for his baritone saxophone work and show-stealing vocal turns in Turkuaz, or as a member of post-Turkuaz ensemble Cool Cool Cool, which backed up rock icons Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew on their national Remain in Light outing throughout 2023. You may recognize him as one-third of The Horn Section, the plug-and-play brass trio that has toured stadiums around the country with Zac Brown Band and more. But however you may know Josh, you’ve never heard him sound quite like JOSCH, the persona behind his debut batch of solo material.
The longtime sideman puts those wings to the test on various metaphorical levels with his first single under the JOSCH banner, “Icarus In Motion”, a spin on the ancient Greek myth of Icarus, whose gruesome demise at the hands of hubris and gravity has long supplied the ominous foundation for warnings against “flying too close to the sun.”
“I’ve always been drawn to the darker side of things, even as I’m usually outwardly very bright and sunny,” Schwartz mused about the track. “With Icarus, I strove to channel James Blake and classic hip-hop in a modern re-telling of the Ancient Greek myth of Icarus, the young man who flew too close to the sun despite the warnings of his father, Daedalus. It’s a story of excessive pride, obsession with material wealth and pleasures, the dark side of the modern American Dream.”
“I’ve always been fascinated by mythology, and my lyrics are often inspired by books I read,” Schwartz explained. “With ‘Icarus’, I had the music and beat for a chorus but only filler nonsense lyrics. Then I was reading ‘The Power of Myth’ by Joseph Campbell and he starts talking about the myth of Icarus. Being reminded of that tale and the poetic imagery of flying too close to the sun totally inspired me to write the actual lyrics.”
“Once I got the idea for the song,” JOSCH continued, “I kept imagining Patrick Bateman from ‘American Psycho’ as I thought about the insatiable appetite and drive of my protagonist. I also grew up outside NYC in a town where it seemed like most kids strove for that life of material wealth without real meaning or purpose; I always felt a bit alienated because I chose to follow my passion instead of chasing paper. In a way, this song is a critique of everything that made me feel less-than.” After recording the original demo for the song, Schwartz brought it to producer Rob O’Block who “brought it to life with drum programming and other pre-production magic.”
Out today on streaming platforms, “Icarus In Motion” finds peculiar cohesion in the chaotic leanings of JOSCH’s creative vision, with melodies that flutter a feather behind the droning drum beat and layers of vocals that slide in and out of symmetry as they weave between dissonance and harmony, madness and euphoria.
All the while, Schwartz, who wrote and recorded all of the track’s instrumental parts in addition to its vocals, presents as more of a passenger than a pilot on the flight, tailing his unshackled muse to see where it might take him. The result is a cinematic track that feels as nervous and foreboding as it does wondrous and enthralling, the kind of sweet-and-sour juxtaposition that might shock you on your first bite but is sure to leave you addicted by your last.
With his ambitious pursuit of an unexplored sound, Josh Schwartz is taking flight toward the sun, but unlike Icarus and his wax wings, JOSCH’s versatile talent and off-kilter creativity allow him to withstand the perils of its heat and bask in its light instead.
Listen to “Icarus In Motion”, the debut single from JOSCH, on the platform of your choice here or stream it via the Spotify player below.
JOSCH – “Icarus In Motion”
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