Greetings dearest gentle readers and music fans let’s welcome Josh hicks to our digital space. This wonderful English artist has created a five-song EP with like-minded artists and professionals called “Live and Acoustic”. Let’s talk more about this EP

The opening track is called “Self-seeking (acoustic)”. The song opens with a short intro and then you’d hear Josh‘s soft voice in the song, the character is chastising someone who is selfish and is paying the price for it(“You’re wasting my time”). The character makes it known to this person that he or she is selfish (“you’re self-seeking “). The song is stripped down and you can hear every single word that Josh is saying, the instrumentation and the mouth percussions do well to enhance the story that the song is telling. This song opens up the EP with grace

Next up is “Everything About You (acoustic)”. The song gets right into the vocal performance. The character in the song describes his partner in great detail and is very thankful that he met her because he feels alive with her(“From your eyes to your smile and your face”). This line from the song “You Make Me Feel Alive” reminds me of the Main Character in The Vampire Diaries Elena tells her boyfriend who was pushing her away that although they are vampires he makes her feel alive. The song uplifts love and how meeting the right person can turn your whole life around. Musically, Josh really dug deep on this one and gave his all in the vocals with a dreamy guitar sound in the background

Next up is “home is where the heart is (acoustic)”. The song cuts to the chase and dives right into the vocal performance. The character in the song is describing where he or she was born. The character then talks some more about his or her town and says that he feels like he wants to move there. The song had a country flair to it and it was a wonderful song that will get you feeling nostalgic

“Same air(acoustic)” is the title of the next song on the EP. The song opens with beautiful guitar sounds before Josh starts to sing. The “honeymoon stage” in a relationship where the two of you are in a love bubble(“we’re breathing the same air”)is a good way to describe this song. At the beginning of a relationship, you cling to everything your significant other says. Despite your suspicions, you decide to disregard them in the pursuit of genuine love! It’s as though you two are the only people on a single, large planet, and all other sounds have been muffled! The song has Josh’s silky smooth voice a chance to sparkle and boy did he sparkle! This song was very exciting and it makes you feel as though it’s just you and Josh in a studio and you are watching him as he lays down this track

The last track is called “To Love for a Day”. The song starts with this amazing saxophone sound that is so mesmerizing. The song is about a character who is looking back at his now-ended relationship and wishes that though it fell apart that he wishes he could turn back time to a time when they were still in love (“ it fell apart in the end”). Josh co-wrote a jazzier song last year but I never got around to releasing it! And thank goodness he did because the song sounded so fantastic. The saxophone solo was so stunning and breathtaking and the piano flourish at the end was so classy. This song did a splendid job of closing the EP

Amy Winehouse’s live acoustic performance on the BBC and his love of live studio recordings from the 1960s and 1970s served as inspiration for “Live & Acoustic.” It honors the help Josh has gotten from friends and family as well as advice from musicians, producers, and industry professionals since his music career started in 2021. He did not work alone on the EP.

The “To Love For A Day” (Bonus Track), was co-written with Amy Walton, his university lecturer and South African singer/ songwriter, and to accompany the bonus track he selected three previously released songs of his and rearranged them with Alex Hancox (MD & Bassist), Jack Kendrew (Guitarist) and Tom Connolly (Drummer). This EP was brilliantly done and I can’t wait to hear more songs from him

Stream the “Live & Acoustic” EP on Spotify or SoundCloud

Follow Josh Licks on her socials; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube