VIDEO: Joshua Crumbly Releases Video for 'Kolkata' from 'ForEver' Album

Today bassist, producer, and songwriter Joshua Crumbly released the Giraffe Studios-directed video for his song "Kolkata."

The track is off of Crumbly's recently released full-length ForEver - guests on the album include Shahzad Ismaily, Sam Gendel, Jay Bellerose, and more. So far, ForEver has been praised by NPR Music, Bandcamp, Cool Hunting, Hypebeast, Popmatters, No Treble, WBGO, MXDWN, Under The Radar, and NYS Music, who said "Crumbly's gift lies in emotionally evocative and masterful bass guitar." ForEver is available now digitally and on vinyl at Bandcamp.

"The original version of this song came to me whilst in Kolkata, India visiting family," Crumbly says. "I had a moment of stillness looking out the window taking in everything. It was such a beautiful moment that I can't even quite explain but I'm so grateful to have experienced it. The theme of this song came to me and I documented it right away as if it were a sonic journal entry."

Joshua is genre-blurring artist and sought after bassist who's recorded and toured
with artists like Kamasi Washington, Leon Bridges, Terence Blanchard, and Bob Dylan, performing in Dylan's 2021 concert film Shadow Kingdom. Crumbly's 2020 debut album Rise was met with praise from Hypebeast, Indieshuffle, Jazziz, WBGO, Earmilk, No Treble, Exclaim!, Glide, Ones to Watch, and The FADER, who said Rise featured "explosions of synths mixed with a driving drum pattern that has the dusty texture of a jazz lounge." Though centred around the bass guitar, ForEver uses additional instrumentation with subtlety and grace.

Joshua made his musical debut aged 10, playing alongside his saxophonist father. A gifted performer, even as a pre-teen, he enjoyed mentorships with renowned bass players Reggie Hamilton (Whitney Houston, Seal) and Al McKibbon (Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins) before moving from LA to New York to attend the prestigious Juilliard music school. After years of honing his musicality alongside seminal players, Joshua finally embarked on recording his own solo pieces, beginning with 2020's Rise. The starting place of ForEver quickly followed, beginning with encouraging words from friend and collaborator Shahzad Ismaily.

"ForEver began with an out of the blue call from Shahzad," Joshua explains "He told me that I needed to record a solo bass album. It started out as such, then I added some other instruments. It branched out even further when I reached out to a few friends, whose voice I was strongly hearing on particular songs. I'm grateful they were down to be a part of the record."

figureight records is a creative project led by Shahzad Ismaily. The label has to date released records by múm founding member Gyda Valtysdottir, NYC super-producer Randall Dunn, Jon Hopkins and Brian Eno collaborator Leo Abrahams, Spotify chart-topping indie artist Toth, and more.

Watch a new music video here:

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