Josh Jensen Connects on His Bold New EP Release ‘Eclectic Mementos’ and Shares Insights on His Artistic Evolution
- STAFF
- Sep 8
- 10 min read
By: Staff
Josh Jensen crafts a profoundly captivating and genre-defying soundscape in ‘Eclectic Mementos,’ marking a powerful artistic breakthrough.
Josh Jensen unveils 'Eclectic Mementos,' an EP that challenges the boundaries of genre and storytelling with a sound both familiar and boldly new. From the opening track, listeners are invited into a world that feels like a secret passage, where electronic rhythms meet haunting acoustic textures and vocals that carry an emotional weight. This is not just a collection of songs, but a tapestry of moments, fragments of memory, and reflection that together form a compelling narrative.
The journey through Eclectic Mementos feels like stepping into a storybook where each track serves as a chapter, unfolding tales of growth, introspection, and the complexities of identity. The title itself hints at the gathering of scattered experiences, carefully arranged to create a mosaic of the artist’s evolving vision. Songs like “H34V3N” fill the EP with a sense of contemplation that echoes back to the questions raised at the beginning, leaving listeners pondering what has been learned and what remains to be discovered.
We spoke with Josh Jensen to explore how this shift from Americana to a more electronic soundscape became a new form of storytelling. His creative process reveals a spontaneous and rhythm-driven approach where lyrics were often born in the moment to match the evolving mood of each piece. The collaboration with producer Noah Michael added layers that pushed the project beyond its initial framework, making it both a personal journey and a shared creation.
What does it mean to turn memories into music, and how does an artist navigate the line between the imagined and the real? These questions and more are at the heart of our conversation with Jensen, offering a glimpse into the making of an EP that invites listeners to lose themselves in its immersive sound and thoughtful narrative.
Keep scrolling to get into it with Josh Jensen
Here’s how it went:
Begin Interview:
Hello Josh Jensen, we’re thrilled to have you here for this interview! We've had an amazing time exploring your music and diving into your creative journey. Now, we’re even more intrigued to get a deeper look into both your brand and your personal and professional inspirations.
Q. Whoa, this departure into new stylistic territory is absolutely amazing. You officially own the phrase "genre-fluid." The blend of electronic textures and acoustic elements is seamless, and your vocals felt deeply emotional and full of nuance. The flow of the entire EP is stunning. It’s simultaneously relaxing and thought-provoking, which is a powerful and rare dichotomy. After experiencing this project, we’re curious: When did you go from making music in your own world to realizing this wasn’t just a passion, but your path? That this could actually be your future as a professional artist in the music industry?
A. Thank you so much! Releasing this EP was something I was really on the fence about, since it is a departure from my typical style. Your feedback means a lot! I knew it would be a risk putting it out there, but when I shared it with my friend Noah, and asked if he could help with the mixing and mastering, he was so supportive and excited to be a part of the project that I just ran with it. To your question about music being my path, music has always been a big part of my life, as far back as I can remember. It’s something that I started to take more seriously in high school due to a great teacher and close community of musical friends and continued to pursue in various formats. I don’t think I will be quitting my day job for music anytime soon, but I can guarantee that this won’t be the last you hear from me!
Q. Let’s begin with “Tier 7”, what is the message at the heart of this song, and where does it sit in the story arc of Eclectic Mementos?
A. Tier 7 was actually the first of the Eclectic Mementos tracks that I wrote and recorded – the piece that started it all. When I was in my teens, I read voraciously, and many of the books I really enjoyed and related to were coming-of-age stories like Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, for example. Around the time I wrote Tier 7, it was actually my Eclectic Mementos engineer, Noah Michael, who had brought up the famous German author Hermann Hesse in conversation. Hesse authored the book Siddartha, another coming-of-age novel which I absolutely loved reading when I was younger. Stemming from that conversation, I started reading parts of Hesse’s book Demian and I think that’s partly where the inspiration for Tier 7 emerged from. Tier 7 is about a young man growing up and exploring religion and spirituality. The song sits right at the beginning of the Eclectic Mementos story arc and the start of the EP, perfectly where it belongs.
Q. Why the title “Tier 7”? It has a layered, almost gamified feel. What does that “tier” signify in the world of this EP?
A. The title “Tier 7” originates from the first verse: “Each step we take into the tiers, the echoes of our feet”. The tiers in this song represent the seven chakras, or energy centers, that are prevalent in Hindu teachings and mythology. Originally, I had some other verses to this song that may have explained it more, but I ditched them for simplicity, allowing the listener to interpret the short poem however they please.
Q. Thinking of the EP as a book, did you write each song as its own standalone “chapter,” following a short story collection style, or were you telling one overarching story that unfolds from track to track?
A. I found the title of the EP, Eclectic Mementos, to be fitting for the process because all four of the tracks were written rather spontaneously and without much of a plan or theme in mind. However, as I began organizing the track order, I found a natural flow between the songs that plays out in a timeline from youth (Tier 7) to the present tense (A day in the life if it was written in 2025).
Q. Did any of the songs surprise you, meaning they started off as one idea but evolved into something completely different by the time they were finished?
A. To be honest, all of the songs on Eclectic Mementos were a pleasant surprise! Each song was written and recorded in one sitting. For each of the sessions, I would find a beat I liked, then write and record a song over it that night, and then go back to make small tweaks or re-record some parts later in the week. I have a wife and three kids at home, so I only have so much time to myself, which tends to be late nights. Fortunately my night owl tendencies also align with a time when my creative tendencies kick into gear. But each song was a reflection of what I was thinking or feeling at exactly the moment it was written. That was the fun part about this project, writing a song over the course of several hours and capturing that feeling in a time capsule, instead of dwelling on the song and attempting to make everything perfect and presentable. You get some randomness, but you also get authenticity.
Q. The title Eclectic Mementos suggests you're curating fragments of memory or experience. Were you revisiting old parts of yourself, or trying to document where you are now?
A. Eclectic Mementos felt like a perfect title for these four tracks because they capture the essence of a moment in time. Each track reflects what I was reading, how I was feeling, or what I was pondering at the time, all perfectly captured during each recording session.
Q. “H34V3N” feels like a reflective epilogue to “Tier 7.” Did you always envision those two tracks as bookends to the EP’s journey?
A. H34V3N and Tier 7 really do bookend nicely, but there was never any intention behind that. The tracks to Eclectic Mementos were all very spontaneously written. Reflecting back on the process, I am not surprised that the tracks turned out to have similarities in message or style, because they were all written within a span of about 6 to 8 weeks, give or take. The way they line up on the album and the complimentary nature of the two tracks really landed perfectly and I am happy that they both were created for this project.
Q. Lyrically, how much of this EP is autobiographical versus imagined narrative, and did that line blur while you were writing?
A. The lyrics to the Eclectic Mementos songs were pulled from my subconscious very spontaneously, so I think the line between autobiographical and imagined narrative are perfectly blurred. I relate to the tracks on this EP in a very personal way but can also detach from portions knowing that it’s a narrative that supports the message. For example, the song Welcome to the Parasocial Adventure is a narrative about our human obsession with celebrity culture, and somewhat a critique of it. Much of that narrative is less about me and more of an observation.
Q. There’s a strong sense of internal dialogue throughout the EP. Who do you feel you're speaking to in these songs: a younger self, a future version of you, someone else entirely?
A. That’s a good observation. Overall, the lyrical theme throughout Eclectic Mementos challenges myself and the listener to strive towards living in the moment and letting go of some of those external influences that drive us to insanity, such as celebrity, politics, or religion.
Q. You mentioned writing a lot of lyrics spontaneously. How did that in-the-moment approach affect the emotional tone or truth of each “chapter”? Do you feel these moments ended up more pivotal or impactful than lyrics you labored over?
A. I think the spontaneity of the tracks offer the listener a glimpse into the earlier parts of my songwriting process and give the EP overall a more raw and intimate vibe – compared to the album I released earlier this year, This Is Where We Landed, which is more calculated and produced. It’s such a fun dichotomy having released two albums in a year that fall on different sides of the musical spectrum.
Q. You approached this project beat-first, with rhythm as the foundation. Did that shape the narrative flow of the EP in unexpected ways? And how does that compare to your usual songwriting process?
A. The tracks on Eclectic Mementos were very inspired by Thom Yorke’s solo project releases that were very rhythm forward and danceable, yet introspective and musically intriguing. My usual songwriting process starts with a combination of guitar and lyrics that inspire each other. Once I have that musical base, then I like to add a musically challenging element to the song, followed by creating space for collaborators or other instruments. The songwriting process for Eclectic Mementos was almost the exact opposite from my typical approach. I knew this was going to be a solo project, so I gave myself complete musical freedom to explore rhythm and bass before adding other instruments. Once I had a groove down and most of the instrumentation, I let the music inspire the lyrical direction of the song, which added a surprise element to the creative process.
Q. Your shift from Americana to electronic feels like a narrative device in itself. Did you think of genre here as a kind of setting, like choosing a new world to tell the story in, or was there some other catalyst that drove this decision?
A. To be honest, the shift from Americana to electronic music was just, in the words of Bob Ross, a happy accident. I was messing with different beat samples one evening and found a groove that really spoke to me (Tier 7). My impulse was to lay down the beat track and then start adding a deep synthy bass, a guitar riff, and then float keys over the top of it. The vibe just flowed naturally and all of a sudden I had a song that I really dug and had a ton of fun creating. After that evening, I thought it would be fun to recreate that spontaneous creativity and see what else might come of it.
Q. Can you tell us more about your relationship with Noah Michael and Non-Minutiae Records, and how they helped shape this project creatively and professionally?
A. I met Noah Michael through an online guitar forum. I can’t remember who posted first, but one of us commented “collab when?” on each other’s post and after hearing some of Noah’s work, I reached out with a demo of “The Circus is in Town” that I had recorded to see if he would be interested in seeing what a collaboration would look like. Honestly, it was a tongue-in-cheek song that I never thought would see the light of day, but Noah loved it and we exchanged ideas and turned it into a “remix” that is featured on the digital version of my album This Is Where We Landed. I really enjoyed working with Noah and knew that he thrived in the experimental music world, so after creating the tracks for Eclectic Mementos, I reached out to see if he would be interested in mixing and mastering them. Noah’s offered some creative input during the mixing process and his contribution to the tracks really made them shine. After working with him on this project, I was honored when he asked if I would be interested in releasing Eclectic Mementos through his label Non-Minutiae Records.
Q. Looking at Eclectic Mementos now as a finished story, what do you think the “moral” or closing message is, if there is one?
A. Eclectic Mementos is my response to “just release the damn music.” There is always that hesitation because you think it’s not good enough, or, it’s too different from what I usually release. Those are completely valid hesitations, but at some point, you just need to release your art into the world, because there is nobody else in the world that can.
Q. If someone listened to Eclectic Mementos from start to finish with no prior knowledge of your work, what do you hope they understand about you by the time the last track ends?
A. Well, one thing I hope the listener doesn’t take away from the EP is that I’m an Americana artist posing as an electronica/downtempo hack. Ha! My hope is that the listener really enjoys the vibes, relates at some level to the message or the songwriting, and begs for an Eclectic Mementos Part Deux.
Q. Josh, we can't thank you enough for sharing these intimate details. So, what’s next? Can you give us the inside scoop on upcoming projects and what fans should be on the lookout for?
A. Thank you for the thoughtful questions! As you know, I released my album, This Is Where We Landed, in March 2025. As part of that release, I had a limited run of 200 environmentally friendly, PET technology 180-gram LPs pressed through Washingtones Records, an amazing boutique record label based in Bellingham, Washington. I am still working on promoting that record and playing local shows to support This Is Where We Landed and . I am hoping to book some more shows through the end of the year, but after that I would love to continue writing and collaborating with other artists. I find a lot of joy in sharing the songwriting experience with others and capturing that energy in the studio. So you can expect more live music and hopefully some fresh tracks to be released in the not so distant future.
Josh Jensen, thank you so much, we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us!
End Interview
We’re happy to have shared Josh Jensen’s exciting journey with you and uncovered such inspiring insights about their creative process.
