joseph tennant

It’s out! I’m very grateful to be able to share new music with you all.

You can find it here and here.

Let me know what you think!

It’s heavily snowing in my city. Welcome to the doldrums of winter, everybody. When the outside bleakness starts to creep its way into our sinews and marrow. Surely I’m not the only one who savours this season a little bit. When your mind starts wandering farther than usual and starts dreaming. It’s an eerie state, one that has a lot to offer artistically.

I wrote For Solace with the themes of meaning and vocation spiralling about my head. It’s about the struggle of an artist who cannot find the energy or time to work on their calling. This is, I believe, a universal theme for all who have been cursed with the urge to create.

Our lives are messy, we slice bread and spill wine at the dinner table. We balance newborns with the stresses of work. The schedule fills up and beauty is left to the vultures. We burn out, realize we messed up, then do it all again.

In a lot of ways, For Solace (releasing March 14th) is a prayer. It’s a desperate cry for hope in bleakness, a desire for change – the coming of the solstice.

I deeply hope that this song is a solstice for you, an evening vesper for your weary soul.

I’m excited to release it on March 14th!

I was so thrilled to have an opportunity to head up to Edmonton to play the Black Dog on Saturday. Thank you to everyone who came out and for all the great support! I had an absolute blast.

On top of playing my own music I also have been helping some friends out with their own music this past month. From recording electric guitar for my friend Zac Parkinson’s upcoming EP to playing banjo for Kearstin Pfeifer’s concert at Olympic Plaza, I’ve been quite busy. I’m hoping to continue working on exciting projects like these all year long – if you want me to play some backup instruments, help write a song, or produce some music for you, please let me know!

It’s been an eventful January so far. I’ve seen a lot of growth as a musician, writer, and performer over the past few years and have been very encouraged to start applying it all in a live setting. My show at Gravity on January 4th was absolutely fantastic with a great turnout. Thank you to all who came!

This coming year will bring a few exciting songs leading up to (if I can get my act together) an album. I’m really excited to see where the year leads as I hope you are also.

I find that walks tend to be one of the best ways to reflect at the days end. They are a meditative activity that allows my mind to rest. My best ideas seem to come to me while on a day’s end stroll. Almost as if the space I’ve made for my mind to relax gives me a small gift; a little seed of inspiration.

The small offerings a restful walk gives me are often overlooked. I think of the little scents in the air that draws out a well of rich memories. Or the way that the sky looks, or the way that the wind moves. When I allow myself to be human and rest, I find that the world tends to be a bit more magical and mysterious. This allurement will often lead to me bursting into song which in turn will lead to a brand new piece of art (take my song Mutineer for example).

Perhaps the lesson for myself is simple, inspiration is everywhere when I allow my mind to declutter and relax. When distracted by too many things, I end up choking my creativity, like weeds surrounding a young flower. Perhaps the lesson is more complex. Maybe the mental clarity and joy that I get on a stroll affects more than just my creative state but also touches at the very core of what it means to be human; I’m revelling in the creation around me.

In all honesty, I don’t really know. I think I’ll go for a stroll.

Two years ago the entire world shut down and artists made a productivity pact. It was an interesting time where creatives suddenly were undistracted by their daily work and were seemingly given a gift of uninterrupted time to dig into their creative pursuits.

I was among this group of artists with high hopes. I had plans to write meaningful songs, record albums, and finally launch a gainful career in the music industry. And yet, despite my plans to do so, it seemed almost as if the muse had gone mute. I had lost my words and my ability to write anything other than trite rhymes about surface level struggles. It seemed awfully cruel that my ability to write dissipated at the same time I gained the time I so desperately yearned for.

This phenomenon was not exclusive to my experience of the pandemic either. In my conversations with other like-minded artists I noticed that they often shared similar stories about creative drought; they conveyed almost a sense of, “the lost years,” in reference to the pandemic. It’s deeply puzzling. How could such an ambitious group of imaginative individuals return null after two years?

Honestly, this is a question I’ve been marinating in for quite some time (perhaps even two years!). I’m just slowly starting to form coherent thoughts about it now. My hypothesis is that, as creatives, we need time to process and we need people to process with. I think there was a reason why much of early pandemic art was, to use strong words, vapid and purely observational. Makers created pressure on themselves to design relevant pieces of art before they had time to process for themselves or in a community.

Now, I’m obviously generalizing as I know that there have been some amazing works of art that have sprung from the depths of quarantine. I do think, however, that on the tail end of the pandemic, we are just now starting to see more reflective work coming from the creatives of the world. I would not be surprised if some of the best art of this decade is crafted over the next few years, in the wake of an illness that isolated ever single one of us. I, for one, believe that I am seeing an end to my creative drought and I am so excited to get back to making meaningful art.

Hey friends,

I just wanted to update you that my song, Mutineer is out now!

Check it out below:

bandcamp / everything else

Have a lovely day!

Hey there!

I’ve got a new tune coming up very soon (on the 16th of November, to be exact). It’s called Mutineer and it was a joy to write and produce. I am honestly elated that I have an opportunity to share my art with the world and I sincerely hope that it is enjoyed. I’ve got the artwork just below if you want a sneak peak.

It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me. I apologize for that.

In the background I’ve been slowly plugging away at some new pieces of work that range from singles, to an album, to a small chapbook of pandemic thoughts. As an artist and poet it’s my dream to make something that breaks the firmament of fiction and stirs a bruised soul. If my work does this for you, in any way, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m listening.

I’m still here, my heart won’t shut the hell up so I guess I’ve still got lots to write, record, and make. Stay with me.