FROM FORTHCOMING DEBUT ALBUM PARTY OF ONE
OUT JANUARY 24, 2025 VIA EASY DOES IT RECORDS
Nashville-based creative and musician Josh Gilligan releases the solacing single “500 Questions,” from his forthcoming debut album Party Of One, set for release January 24, 2025 via Chicago and Nashville-based indie label Easy Does It Records. It’s a song about coming to terms with the fact that you won’t always have all the answers. One must move on when nostalgia gets in the way of living life.
“500 Questions” emotes a melancholic curiosity with meditative lyrics. Gilligan’s soft yet affecting vocals have a calming effect over the ‘70s-inspired psych-rock instrumentation. Under The Radar, who proudly premiered the single, emphasizes “Gilligan’s vocal delivery is feather-light, resting easily atop a bed of warm guitars and effortless grooves. However, the lyrics reveal more complex emotional layers running beneath the placid instrumentation. Despite the ambling rhythms and infectious guitar hooks, the track’s lyrics meditate on the unknown, taking a wistful tour through what-ifs and could-have-beens [...] From there, Gilligan takes a backseat, letting the band wind down in a dance of inviting, sun-dappled grooves.”
Of the track, Gilligan says, “‘500 Questions’ is a song about when looking back is no longer nostalgic but is starting to take the life from what’s ahead. There are some answers we might never get, so there’s a time to stop questioning and to just start living again.”
The introspective new track follows the release of the hopeful single, “Anything.” Together, they serve as a powerful introduction to Gilligan’s somber, yet hopeful collection of songs. Those who might not be familiar with his sound or presence in the Nashville indie scene, Gilligan has worked in various capacities with artists like Halfnoise, Madi Diaz, Elke, and Medium Build, whom he just opened for on tour this fall. His diverse experiences on stage have infused his music with a rich blend of influences, setting the stage for his most personal project to date.
His debut album Party of One, due out next year, marks a new step in his musical journey, following the success of his 2021 EP, Go Around.
Party of One collects the wisdom Gilligan gleaned from a long period of deep sadness, self-doubt, and confusion. There are songs about separation, internal conflicts, creative disappointments, all of which added up to a pervasive melancholy in his late 20s and early 30s. He’d spent nearly a decade gigging around Nashville, balancing other jobs adjacent to the music industry with his own musical pursuits.
“I wasn’t expecting to feel so hollowed out after my twenties,” says Gilligan, “and I was wondering if I still wanted to make music. But I felt like I owed it to myself to give it another try, even though in the back of my mind I’m thinking, What can I add to the conversation? Why would anyone want to listen to what I have to say? ‘Anything’ came out of that, and it’s been a good message to live with. A lot of people think that if they’re not doing something super ambitious and highly visible, that means they’re doing something wrong or they’re not being brave enough. But it takes so much bravery to do anything at all.”
Gilligan drew from the ‘70s pop and soft rock of his childhood, creating a sound that resonates with personal references: the graceful melodicism of Paul Simon, the restless experimentation of Todd Rundgren, the emotional directness of James Taylor. “My mom was raising five kids—I was the middle child—and she would take us on long drives to make us sleepy. And she would play Wings, America, and Christopher Cross. Instead of rejecting her music, I embraced all of it. That’s the stuff I’m thinking about when I make music. It completely formed my sensibilities. My mom inadvertently crafted the palette of Party of One.”
Gilligan spent years recording, mixing, and even sequencing another record, but something didn’t sit right. It took bravery to set it aside and start again from scratch. In 2022 he spent a month in California, savoring the change of scenery and working with a different set of musicians. In one memorable afternoon, he and Jacob Jeffries (who plays keyboards for Vulfpeck) wrote a song called “Tight Rope,” out now. It’s a gentle ballad with chiming guitars, shimmering keyboards, and lyrics about how falling off the tightrope gets you back down to earth. It was a breakthrough. “Honestly it felt less like doing a co-write and more like finding a long-lost member of my musical family. I remember thinking, This is how I want the album to sound. I built everything else around that song. It came out like a sneeze, but the others came together with more time and care.”
When he's not making music, Josh enjoys spending his time outdoors, fishing or working on vintage music equipment. His passion for music and creativity is matched by his appreciation for the simple pleasures in life, and he strives to create songs that resonate on a genuine level with his audience.