Spotlight - Joshua Radin

Even if you've never heard of Joshua Radin, you've probably heard Joshua Radin--barely heard him that is--because he's really quiet and he's really mellow. His is the kind of music you hear playing in the background at Barnes and Noble, or in TV shows when the plot takes a turn to sensitive town, or around your house while you enjoy a quiet dinner. Even still, he's good. And when you're looking for some music to play that is assured to not step on any toes, put on some Radin.

WINTER

Radin is one of those guys that guys like me love to hate: He's multi-talented, has a full head of hair, and emotes an "I'm not sure why everyone is fussing over me" aura. As the story goes, Radin was living in NYC with aspirations of being a painter and a screenwriter (I told you he was multi-talented), and one night he was asked to host an open mic night at a small club in the City. Not wanting to be a non-singing host, Radin took a break from his painting and screenplay writing and, ho-hum, wrote a song to play. The result, Winter, is an enchanting song about a winter love from the past still consuming the present.

FILM IS THE NEW RADIO

Writing Winter opened Radin's eyes to his musical talent so he gave a demo of the song to his good friend from college, actor Zach Braff (of Scrubs and The Last Kiss fame). Braff loved Winter and had it played in an episode of Scrubs. Encouraged by the success of Winter, Radin wrote more music and it ended up on more TV shows like Grey's Anatomy and Brothers and Sisters. He even landed two songs on the film The Last Kiss soundtrack (starring, of course, Zach Braff). As Radin puts it: "Film is the new radio." At least for him it is.

Columbia Records signed Radin a short time later. He subsequently moved to LA to be closer to the music supervisors, good weather, and because he "didn't find as much of a community of songwriters in New York. Everyone sounded like the Strokes. But there’s a great community of artists in Los Angeles."

WE WERE HERE

Radin's first full album, We Were Here, was released in 2006. The songs on the album evoke a feeling of deja vu. They're instantly familiar. That's probably because you have heard them before--in the background behind some sappy dialogue on TV or the big screen. Even if you really haven't heard the songs before, their sounds are similar enough to great folk artists from the past like Simon and Garfunkel, Cat Stevens and Bob Dylan, that they make you feel like you do when you enter a warm, cozy house after being outside in the frigid cold--you know, like "we were here".

If you are wondering why Radin's music is so quiet, and I'll agree that sometimes his vocals are too hard to hear, blame a grouchy old lady in NYC who used to live next to Radin. As he described it: "I would just start finger picking on my guitar and she would call the police," he says. “That’s kind of why I called that record We Were Here, because the cops would show up and they’d kind of look around and then call the neighbor and say, 'Well, we were here. We didn’t find any problem, but we were here.'" And thank goodness he WAS there because he's here now and writes great music.