Joseph King
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Joseph King

Austin, Texas, United States

Austin, Texas, United States
Band Rock Reggae

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"Painting The Roses"

On ‘Painting the Roses’ Canvas have stepped into the light with fresh new songs that practically sparkle, thanks to the embellishments of producer, Johnny Goudie. But not to worry, the aura of mystery and rock mysticism that is their signature sound is still there. The dark undercurrent is just a little more…refined. And it tastes so good.

- Loris Lowe, Music Director KLBJ FM Austin


"A Peek At The Roses"

Canvas was not comfortable or content to play in familiar territories. Turning inward to find their strengths and muses, the band has traveled to new interior psychological soundscapes. It’s a sad, beautiful and exhilarating place. “Painting The Roses” is not Invocation: The Return or Four Days Awake 2. These are songs crafted from a different loom and woven from silk from countries we haven’t seen before in previous Canvas songs. The imagery in this new tapestry are just as intoxicating and enchanting as their past work. From the doomed car sailing through space in “Overpass” to the loosening corset in the title track “Painting The Roses”, the metaphors are satisfying and rich and Joseph’s abilities as a storyteller and painter of bittersweet stories are sharper than ever.

It takes talent and skill to exercise restraint and control in art. Canvas walks the artistic high road on “Painting The Roses” by not only refusing to play in familiar sandboxes and composing unexpectedly fresh sounding songs but by also employing the most delicate of brush strokes and nuances through producer Johnny Goudie’s guidance.

In the studio Johnny elicits the full potential of each song here and adds some beautiful organ chords and fun and some atonal sax sounds as well in the background of “Thursday”s rolling thunder rendition of infidelity and billiards.

One song in particular, the title song, “Painting The Roses” does offer a sequel of sorts to Invocation’s “In These Walls”. Joseph’s narrator that found refuge in the feminine archetype’s womb and was subsequently challenged in “Tarot” now finds himself in the ground:

“too warm to feel the pain
she's rising above the rain
too cold to feel the hurt
i'm sleeping below the earth
two cards are missing from the stack
we try to find our own way back
impulses all the same
she's rising above the rain”

The brave and terrifying act of facing the fears of death and loss reverberate throughout the songs. The emotions are sweet, seductive and mature. A sense of hope and subtle defiance in the face of the coming apocalypse crests in “Soft Blue Hues”. Potential lovers square off over wine and poetry in “Come Down” but we are never explicitly told if consummation ever takes place. Like I said, the songs are refined, grown up and are rich treasures waiting to be discovered. It can be a sad and sobering journey, you might even cry some like I did, but I promise you'll be singing out loud by the time you've gotten there.

You will love “Painting The Roses” if you are a Canvas fan. For newcomers, an album of tightly performed and exquisitely delivered songs are waiting to be cherished.
- Kevin Porter, Music Director, 95x Odessa/Midland


"A Peek At The Roses"

Canvas was not comfortable or content to play in familiar territories. Turning inward to find their strengths and muses, the band has traveled to new interior psychological soundscapes. It’s a sad, beautiful and exhilarating place. “Painting The Roses” is not Invocation: The Return or Four Days Awake 2. These are songs crafted from a different loom and woven from silk from countries we haven’t seen before in previous Canvas songs. The imagery in this new tapestry are just as intoxicating and enchanting as their past work. From the doomed car sailing through space in “Overpass” to the loosening corset in the title track “Painting The Roses”, the metaphors are satisfying and rich and Joseph’s abilities as a storyteller and painter of bittersweet stories are sharper than ever.

It takes talent and skill to exercise restraint and control in art. Canvas walks the artistic high road on “Painting The Roses” by not only refusing to play in familiar sandboxes and composing unexpectedly fresh sounding songs but by also employing the most delicate of brush strokes and nuances through producer Johnny Goudie’s guidance.

In the studio Johnny elicits the full potential of each song here and adds some beautiful organ chords and fun and some atonal sax sounds as well in the background of “Thursday”s rolling thunder rendition of infidelity and billiards.

One song in particular, the title song, “Painting The Roses” does offer a sequel of sorts to Invocation’s “In These Walls”. Joseph’s narrator that found refuge in the feminine archetype’s womb and was subsequently challenged in “Tarot” now finds himself in the ground:

“too warm to feel the pain
she's rising above the rain
too cold to feel the hurt
i'm sleeping below the earth
two cards are missing from the stack
we try to find our own way back
impulses all the same
she's rising above the rain”

The brave and terrifying act of facing the fears of death and loss reverberate throughout the songs. The emotions are sweet, seductive and mature. A sense of hope and subtle defiance in the face of the coming apocalypse crests in “Soft Blue Hues”. Potential lovers square off over wine and poetry in “Come Down” but we are never explicitly told if consummation ever takes place. Like I said, the songs are refined, grown up and are rich treasures waiting to be discovered. It can be a sad and sobering journey, you might even cry some like I did, but I promise you'll be singing out loud by the time you've gotten there.

You will love “Painting The Roses” if you are a Canvas fan. For newcomers, an album of tightly performed and exquisitely delivered songs are waiting to be cherished.
- Kevin Porter, Music Director, 95x Odessa/Midland


Discography

Canvas releases:

Painting The Roses - 2005
Four Days Awake - 2003
Invocation - 2001

Solo releases:

Bedroom Ceiling Demos (winter, 2006)

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Joseph King began his musical career while a Religious Studies major at Stanford University. Upon graduating in 1998 he moved into an overcrowded artist abode in San Francisco, where he immersed himself in beat poetry and psychedelic rock, dabbled in the budding Bay Area rave scene, and spent countless nights chasing ghosts through the dive bars of North Beach and Haight Ashbury. He toured the West Coast and Southwest in a used R.V. for a year before migrating South in March of 1999, where he spent 6 years as the songwriter, frontman and founder of Austin-based cult favorites Canvas. After 3 albums, over 500 shows, and near-perfection of the indie-bohemian lifestyle with Canvas, Joseph began to feel a need for artistic and spiritual reinvention. In October of 2005, he relocated to New York City where he is now living, writing, and breathing life into a new musical entity. Best described as down-tempo reggae-rock with electronic undercurrents, Joseph's sound is derived from a myriad of influences ranging from Manu Chao to Morphine, The Postal Service to The Police, Quentin Tarantino soundtracks to Brooklyn-based electronica producers. Accompanied only by a laptop, guitar, and long-time muse Katrina, Joseph is currently in awe of the City…