Found In The Smoke

by Joe Vann

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dirtshirt I love this album so much! Nice lil guitar riffs and lovely synth sounds. Joe's voice & lyrics are great. Big respect Favorite track: For You.

Lionel Valdellon (Acid42) Plucked guitar strings, floating synth decorations, plaintive and intimate vocals, tender melodies. This is: Fragile. Haunting. Heart-felt. Folk Pop. Music that is a whispered secret between friends and lovers. Favorite track: Summer.

tan_qualls This album has been so important to me. The singles gave me so much joy and relaxation during lockdown, and the rest of the album is incredible. Thank you for making music.

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1.	For You 03:07	lyrics	buy track
Writing this down So I dont forget Ive got a lot to say I dont wanna lose it I never thought id get the chance But here you are and im looking for the words You know how badly I wanna tell you everything That ive done before Im not the person I was when we were growing up But im trying more But for you I would throw myself Into the fire I would trade it all back And for you I could change myself Im just looking for another chance Back at the bar Where we always go I never left And now your working in mexico You look the same as I remember But all grown up and I still feel like a kid I know how badly you wanted to get out of this town And I felt it too Your smiling at me I buy us another round again I can play it cool But for you I would hold myself Over the fire I would trade it all back And for you I could change myself I know you dont wanna hear that But if I could do it over again Id still tell you to get away Id just be better in my own shit I just dont like the way it ended And now that your here im feeling it
2.	Shuffle Around 02:47	lyrics	buy track
Shuffle around the house again Making excuses, avoid your friends I was around on your front step Buzzing you late at night You made up a drink and sat me down Everyone else is out of town The cities a cage when youre not around It doesnt feel right And im making plans with people I dont like I just dont want to be alone tonight I want to feel like im exactly where Im supposed to be but I dont I dont Cover the windows and go to bed Stay in your clothes wear it all again Im gripping your hand but you leaving and I dont want to make you sad I couldn’t relax and I walked around You work in the morning im being too loud The cities alive and im bored I want to reach out And feel the air And I used to love to take the long way home My mind could wander I could leave my phone And every day was like a place id never been to But now im just passing through You told me we could get together soon I dont know what ill say or what ill do I want to feel like im exactly who im supposed to be But I dont I dont
3.	Can You Be Mine 03:53	lyrics	buy track
Look at the time when your running late They wanna see you run around in circles Ill bring my car and take you to a better place Well lay under the sky blue and purple I feel the pins running down my legs Your eyes are looking at me and and im frozen I like the way your taking all control of me I leave my thoughts behind and im open Your love is taking up the space I can barely breathe And I dont want to get away I need to feel the high I dont wanna to come back down Your love is all I need Can you be mine Im laying here beside you now The salt on my lips let it linger I know you have to leave and I wont stop you It doesnt have to end with the winter
4.	Houseplants 02:23	lyrics	buy track
Havent you felt the light touch your skin You wanna pull off your clothes and just jump right in And now I cant feel the way you want me to feel I need know every word you saying is real now were plants in the ground too deep to get around now were wolves in a cage in love were ok How many days will it take you now Youve got a different love you still remember how And now I cant steal you from a different guy Im trying to change my ways im better this time
5.	Age 03:00	lyrics	buy track
When I was young I used to walk Around the dirt and make believe Im not a little kid anymore We talk about the same old shit And now the words dont stay with me Im not the boy your lookin for - But when I lay down with you at night I want you to hold me to you tight I still feel everything that we do And when you wake up in the morning light I wanna see you at at the bed side I still wanna be everything to you - I go about my day just like The day before but now its short Youre still at work im getting stoned Were buzzing on the long walk home We still hold hands and laugh a lot Theres still a lot I can never know - Were at a friends house Looking around to find who we know But I dont know anyone And everyones having fun Its getting late now I made a mistake I let it show You decided to stay a while And I just feel relieved to go and I go I go
6.	My Apt 03:23	lyrics	buy track
We paint a picture and throw it away I meant to tell you I liked the way you made me out I could be anything and nothing at all I took a look in the mirror today I noticed something aint right I try to pull it out Were making something to cushion the fall Shes at my apt I see her every time I look up I want to turn away but now im shook up Im falling apart yet I need to feel your body on mine It gets me high but its never enough We see the people their moving in line Theres something pretty about the way they jog along I like the feeling I dont matter at all You see a flower who grew in the weeds Its petals changing and trying to hide its beautiful I might have picked it but its never mine
7.	Actor 03:20	lyrics	buy track
I dont know how I got out the front door yesterday I just walk around like every body else It takes every muscle to lift the sheets or id waste away I dont want to keep feeling sorry for myself I just stay immobile and I keep my eyes closed I stay stoned enough so I never feel low And everyone I talk to says I look so tired today I just shrug it off and make my way home Every day, I feel it slipping And I feel the same as time goes by Are you out there trippin, the same way too I hope i get there, when you do She looks out the window while the sun just disappears I can see the silhouette from the bedroom When you turn around I see you face is not the same You saw something out there I cant give to you I just wait it out but I want to be close Are you still in love with the moment I go But we can hold each other till the sun comes back again I just want to hear you say it before I go
8.	Summer 03:03	lyrics	buy track
Waking up in the summer The sweat on my legs And my back is warm I feel you there in the cover The heat coming through you - Stretching out in the water The sun on my face And my hair is short I know you care for another But he couldn’t fool you - - When can I see you again Has it been long enough I dont wanna be your friend I want it all - - Falling back on the pillows The longest day out And it feels too short I need you there in the quiet I know its not true, but Its enough - Humid hums like a blanket The sound of your breath In an empty room I feel it there in the shadow It doesnt feel new
9.	Your Love 02:26	lyrics	buy track
When you close your eyes Does the light still come in I know you I was close behind You were there but I lost you Can I go too I want to feel Your love When I feel too far I dont want to make you find me But you know how I can make life hard But I don't want to lose you If you found out I want to feel Your love
10.	Has To Go 02:23	lyrics	buy track
Out on the porch Smoking again with a can in your hand Same as before Thinking of them and but their holding your man And Id do anything that you asked me to do But for now youre just hanging out - Walking the aisles Pushing your cart while you stare into space Walking a mile Nothing inside and you picture their face And Im working to be what you wanted today But for now were just going out And youre always Looking around And it feels like Everything has to go Hands in the soil Sweat on your face and your pulling it back Anything more Too much to handle for now its ok And Id wash off your hands and your clothes before bed But for now you just need a break
11.	If You're Here 02:26	lyrics	buy track
I want to go there With your happiest memories I wanna feel the next time youre coming down All of the bad you can throw it out Its a large request I know it is Watching you get low Youre a different animal Keeping your back to the corner and your eyes shut Headphones on and the volume up Its the longest train ride isnt it - But youre almost gone im Falling down again but im staying down if your here Bike ride down town Ive been trying to keep up Feeling the wind on your face and the sunlight All of the bad you can leave behind I can stay behind and untangle it Back seat goin out With your hand barely touching mine I never care where im going if youre coming out Making me sweat when you come around Im a nervous wreck I can handle it

about

Joe Vann’s new record is a literal and spiritual homecoming. The singer-songwriter’s debut solo LP, Found In The Smoke, is an intimate rummage through his past: it weds the freewheeling experimental aesthetics of his beloved indie band, From Indian Lakes, with the music traditions on which he was reared while growing up in a trailer on an acreage in rural northern California. The result is an emo-meets-outlaw Americana love letter—like Justin Vernon and Townes Van Zandt locked in a cabin in the Sierra Nevada for months—with phosphorescent synths, hushed vocals, and hardy guitar work.

It’s the work of a musician who left a childhood of no electricity and creek-swimming, lived the indie rock dream, and has now returned home with nothing left to prove.
“I couldn’t have written this when I was growing up where I grew up,” Vann says. “Now, I’m going back to it, and writing from a place that’s not just, ‘I’m a guy from out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains.’ Instead, it’s someone who’s lived a little, and come back.”

The record was created under similarly humble conditions. “Shuffle Around,” the record’s darling, moseying lead single, came about one night in Vann’s old Harlem apartment shortly after lockdown was enforced. Vann switched a mic on and let it roll. The rest of the record followed that track, and was completed in two weeks. The recording setup was simple: “It was just me and my dog Bess laying down by my side,” says Vann.
This writing and recording style recalled Vann’s roots. “I started as a teenager writing songs with just a guitar and piano,” he says. That evolved into From Indian Lakes, a band of quiet, rural-living friends that went from tinkering in Nowhere, California to warming up concert halls on tour with bands like The Maine, Relient K, and Balance and Composure. “We’ve always been the most boring guys on tour,” laughs Vann, adding that conservative rednecks are always shocked to meet “someone as liberal and progressive as I am who out-rednecks them.”

Vann grew up listening first to country stalwarts like Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, and Jim Croce. The down-trodden anti-heroes littered throughout their catalogues were natural thematic fits for Vann’s settings. “I grew up in a trailer with no electricity, no heat or air conditioning, just a generator for weekends if we wanted to put a VHS in,” he says. “My parents didn’t choose to have that kind of life, it’s not like they were really into nature or something. We just didn't have money.” To pass the time, Vann would read, swim in creeks, and eventually scored a drum kit. Later, he turned to 2000s indie titans like Feist and Sufjan Stevens.

The fingerprints of this upbringing and its clash of influence are all over Found In The Smoke. The songs are meticulous but unintrusive, layered with a sort of humility and selflessness. “For You” opens the record on Alex Cameron-esque synth roots under Vann’s pillowy vocals, and follow-up “Shuffle Around” meanders through scenes of social alienation while a dazed acoustic guitar keeps time. “Your Love” is an acoustic pop gem, with a Shawn Mendes-ready chorus inflected with Vann’s relaxed affect. “Has To Go” is textbook mid-oughts indie folk, with bashful piano keys hopping behind Vann’s fingerpicking and brushed percussion.

The record’s narrative bent is romantic and rose-tinted, opting out of expectation and serving instead as a series of snapshots of relationships to home, others, and self. There are songs about Vann’s work building his new home, and others about connection with his partner; they’re a marked departure from the self-serious thematic pressures of the indie rock world. “When you’re in the indie rock space, you have to be very serious or extremely playful,” says Vann. “But people don’t bring up Hank Williams and Dolly Parton enough when it comes to the conversation about emotional music. They were essentially indie-emo-folk artists before anybody in the ‘90s started pioneering any kind of emo sounds.”

Found In The Smoke is a reconnection with childhood, with California, and with simplicity in a time when the quality is nearly impossible to get at. In an era where companies are pushing for maximum growth and bosses are squeezing every drop out of their workers, Vann produced a record that works at its own pace. “Especially when you’re younger, you have a lot to prove,” says Vann. “There’s something very freeing about coming out the other side with nothing else to prove.” - Luke Ottenhof

credits

released January 29, 2021

Written/Recorded/Mixed by Joe Vann
Mastered by Matthew Bedrosian
Artwork by Hal Hales lll
Photography by Colton Williams

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