Joshua Idehen – Say Less
On the opening song of his debut solo album, Joshua Idehen is mid-panic attack on a dancefloor when a stranger puts a hand on his shoulder and pulls him back. “Say Less” sounds like that moment seen from the other side. Here he’s the one making the offers, and he makes a lot of them: a spare hand, a crew for whatever needs doing, the right records for the night. No speech, no conditions. The title is the whole deal.
Joe Goddard of Hot Chip produced it with saturdaymondaymusic, a step away from the Ludvig Parment partnership that shaped the album. The beat drives straight through without much interest in slowing down, and Idehen rides it with the clipped, rhythmic delivery that carried his spoken word onto the floor in the first place. It’s out now on Heavenly Recordings.
We had the album on our Spotlight list back in March, I Know You’re Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try (W13), and my one real complaint then was that a few tracks drifted toward self-help. “Say Less” avoids that by keeping the encouragement concrete: a list of things he’ll actually do for you, not advice on how to feel.
