• News

• All

Jul 30, 2024 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Jake White

Nashville-based indie folk singer/songwriter Joseph Shipp has been writing songs and playing music for most of his life, including a previous stint with his wife as half of the folk duo The Family Shipp. Most recently, after taking time away from music to start a family, Shipp released his solo debut album, Free, For a While, in 2022. His debut saw Shipp pull from storied traditions of folk, rock, and Americana, introducing himself as a resonant and sincere songwriting voice.

This year, he is back with a new album, Dig Deep, out October 4th. He has already shared the album’s title track and the following single, “Open Up (To Me),” and today he’s back with a new single, “Strange Voodoo,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Strange Voodoo” finds Shipp settling into a lithe and off-kilter style of folk pop. He centers the track on an elliptical, percussive guitar line before steadily expanding the instrumental palette with understated crescendos of keys, drums, and strings. The results are sedate and shimmering, but the track also brims with a playful, airy energy. Meanwhile, Shipp’s vocals are sparse but effective, darting in and out of the track as it builds into a magnetic swirl of instrumentation. Occasionally, his vocals swell and sprawl outwards, only for them to quickly return to an understated simmer, dancing amidst the looping guitar melodies.

Shipp explains, “As a songwriter, I always try to challenge myself to do something a little different. ‘Strange Voodoo’ was an attempt to make a catchy narrative song with as few words as possible and with no chorus. I struggled with it for a while and almost didn’t finish it, but my producer, Andrew Goldring, encouraged me to stick with it. I’m so glad I did because it’s one of my favorite songs on the record, and it’s one of those rare songs where the music totally reinforces and matches the meaning of the lyrics.”

Check out the song below. Shipp’s new album, Dig Deep is out on October 4th.