I think one of my first ever reviews for Texx and the City, in 2015, was on Josh Kempen’s Midnight Ship EP, which was peppered in Italian lyricism and otherworldly ambience. Oltramarino veers in much the same direction – although without a whiff of Italian and a decidedly more polished sound.
With forthright honesty the album chronicles the disintegration of relationships and all the heart-wrenching feelings which come along with it. That being said, it’s not packed with wallowing ballads (although there are a few), but rather a textured and largely uplifting narration of the many stages of heartbreak.
It’s also been a long time coming. A couple of tracks – “Promises” and “Need Some Company” – were penned as far back as 2018 and it wasn’t really until lockdown hit that Kempen found himself finally ready to wrap up the project.
Channeling a left-field folk sound I’ve only really heard from him, “Unkind” is doused in ethereal progressions and regret, “The Means” picks things up a bit with country-esque quirk and a hollow, classic recording style, while “Need Some Company” – which features the warm African injection of Soulphiatown’s choral vocalism – is somehow equal parts rousing and mournful.
He has his miserable moments too (see “Without You”), but he turns heartbreak into a gorgeous tapestry for the most part – we even get a semi-sultry “Scorpios”, while “The Contours of Your Butt” is delightfully, unexpectedly cute.
Kempen pivots it all off a carefully unique melodic tangent, and while his songs may err on the longer side (and perhaps in the bizarre autotuned experimentalism of “Hardest Part”), he has crafted a beautiful ode to love in all its complexities.
