“Simply beautiful … full of acoustic grandness” Maverick
Josh Geffin is emerging as one of the most exciting folk-based singer-songwriters in the UK. His inventive fingerstyle guitar playing melds the pastoral beauty of folk perennials Nick Drake, John Martyn and Bert Jansch with the songwriting sensibilities of American contemporaries The Barr Brothers, Joan Shelley and Bon Iver.
Josh has found ways to create something new within the world of folk guitar; it sounds familiar and yet completely contemporary. Geffin is also an accomplished wordsmith influenced by American luminaries such as Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. Whether through his disarming lyrical charm or his plaintive vocal delivery, Geffin’s performances create an intimacy in which listeners want to dwell.
Born in London and raised in rural Dorset Josh picked up a guitar aged 13 and soon began writing songs, recording them on his father’s dusty 4-track cassette machine. He went on to study composition at the experimental Dartington College of Arts in Devon. His debut EP Wake led to a support tour with acclaimed Icelandic band Amiina after which he teamed up with Grammy-nominated engineer Sonny Johns to make his first full length album. Josh has worked with folk innovators The Nest Collective, played on the Marc Riley show on BBC 6 Music (with Victoria Hume), and performed as part of the major art exhibition: Ragnar Kjartannson, at the Barbican.
Josh has released 5 records: his debut EP Wake, the full-length Josh Geffin, an EP of traditional folk songs Rocks of Bawn; an instrumental guitar album Hum & Glow; and his latest EP of songs 'Islands'. He has also released instrumental music under the pseudonym Weather Service and composed for media.
'Islands', released in 2020, was Josh's first released with new label Culture Recordings. As a break-up record, 'Islands' has its fair share of heartache; denial, soul-searching, and the almost hallucinatory confusion of longing. But there is also hope and brightness: finding solace in nature, strength in surrender and joy in everyday things.
Josh has spent much of his life alternating between countryside and city, a dichotomy that continues to inform his work both lyrically and stylistically. From the bucolic charm of his folk fingerpicking to stories of life in the city, this dual affinity shines through on Islands, an EP that heralds a striking return to form as well as a new level of artistic confidence.