Ashes by Joshua Ketchmark: Review

by Damien Reid March 21, 2023

March 21, 2023

Ashes by Joshua Ketchmark: Review

What’s a country song that can make you like country songs? While the rhetoric has been passed around like paper, Ashes by Joshua Ketchmark can make you rethink your decisions. The country tones are subtly input as the folk instrumental largely stands out with the acoustic guitar played by the lead vocal. The organ and piano sound layers well with the folk overtones, appending a contextually solemn tone to the country imagery.

Speaking of layering, the addition of a bass guitar also modernizes the music. As the name suggests, Ashes can be imagined in the back of your mind as the track opens with the flick of the acoustic guitar chord, the sound hangs in the air and before the next chord is struck Joshua doubtfully asks his lover: Did you give it all you had? / To shelter me from all that, Wasn’t right. In his track, Ashes, Joshua alludes to a narcissistic or gaslighting relationship where his lover is the one haunted by the past, after being the one to afflict the damages. He sees that all that’s come out from the whole affair was the truth because all else was taken for granted.

I am sure many of us have been in his boots before. And while those may not have been country, we still come back for the fusion of modern folk and indie pop like Ashes time and time again. This sad melodious song with profound lyricism can move any soul, and perhaps it’s time to move yours.