Nicholas Joseph shares ‘Make It Simple’
Make It Simple, the second single from Kirikiriroa songwriter Nicholas Joseph’s debut album Sailing is out now via Sonorous Circle.
The sweetest and most pop-leaning of the album’s eight tracks, Make It Simple considers both the charm and weight of regional Aotearoa’s vast landscape – the freedom of it, and the isolation. Musicallly, it veers into classic 90’s guitar pop with a hushed vocal delivery.
“In this lonely country I’m just a riddle, a pheasant in the yard, but aren’t we all now?,” Joseph sings, capturing the strange, solitary beauty at the record’s core.
Sailing was recorded live over three days at Bagnall Hill Studio in Te Pahu, with Arden Tanner-Dempsey on drums and producer De Stevens on bass – a deliberate departure from the beat-driven, keyboard-based songwriting of Joseph’s 2024 EP.
Thematically, the record leans into yearning – songs written across the years Joseph spent finding his footing after returning to Aotearoa from Shanghai, China. “If there’s a through line it’s about trying to make sense of things from a position of overwhelm and not really getting anywhere with it.” he says.
Joseph is also one half of Kirikiriroa duo Big Sigh with Rachel Hope Peary, whose debut EP Tether (Sunreturn) picked up coverage from Rolling Stone AU/NZ, alongside a run on the Aotearoa Hot Singles Chart. Where Tether sits in hushed, harmonium-laced folk territory, Sailing pulls in the opposite direction – raw, guitar-driven and considerably less restrained.
Make It Simple is out now and the longplayer Sailing is out September 18 via Sonorous Circle.
