Josh Menon, a wee musician!

At the age of 18, Bengalurean Josh Menon has already released his first EP, amassed close to a 1,000 subscribers on YouTube in less than a year, released his music on both Spotify and iTunes and is now all set to release his first album – Burn the Midnight Oil towards the end of May. About two years ago, Josh decided he would channel his desire to “tell stories” through music and his parents were, and have been his biggest supporters since. “They’re the ones that really encouraged me to go ahead and try, and they never held me back from anything,” says Josh who works with a Hyderabad-based producer Navdeep Singh. “We pretty much do everything together. It’s just him and I in the studio,” he says.  

Josh started out nearly two years ago, posting a cover of John Mayer’s Slow Dancing in a Burning Room. “It was such bad quality. I made a video and everything. It was just really bad,” he says, laughing shyly. He’s come a long way since.  The release of his first single Coloured Cosmetic marking the start of that path. The album Burn the Midnight Oil was named keeping in mind the traditional use of the phrase – working the night away by a candle or any source of light, which relates metaphorically to his connection with the phrase. “Writing the album gave me light in times of darkness; like some sort of illumination. I’m an introvert, so what I can’t or won’t say with words, I say through my songs,” says Menon. When asked about the kind of sound this album would echo, he reveals, “This is my first album so I’m just experimenting. There’s a bit of everything – alt, pop, acoustic, folk, and even a bit of jazz.” Visibly, he is in no hurry to carve his own space in any particular category. “Whatever I’m listening to at the time is what inspires me,” he says.

Menon’s current favourites are Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar and Chance The Rapper who, “Use history to tell their stories today, which is amazing,” opines Josh. He recently released his music on streaming sites like iTunes and Spotify too. “I have to put my work out there because criticism is the only way that I can learn and grow as an artiste,” he adds. A few months ago, he performed at a music festival in Delhi alongside Sharvi Yadav, the winner of reality singing show The Stage. “A girl came up to me and asked for a picture with me, so that was pretty cool,” Josh says giddily.

The singer’s further plans include wrapping up his final exams, and jetting off to film school where he can focus on his other passion, film making. The young singer/songwriter is the one behind all his music videos – direction, concept and execution is all carried out by him. It seems that all that is left for us, is to do is watch as his story unfolds.

– Ahalya Narayanan