With the release of his new album, the Eau Claire-based singer songwriter talks about Instagram, his recent influences, love for coffee, and thoughts on climate change.
Written by The Peach Pitch's Josh Bokor. Photos by Kathleen Bokor.
   It's a chilly, sunny day outside of Bokor's home near the end of March. He looks very comfortable in a long sleeve button down, t-shirt, and his favorite pair of khakis. "I find khakis very, very comfortable," Bokor grins. "Jeans were never my go-to choice, especially since the start of high school, when I was finding my truer interests that have more or less stuck with me. I guess I seem to go for whatever suits me as an individual nowadays." He's also sipping his favorite blend of coffee: Veranda blend from Starbucks. "It's always been my comfort, that medium blend of grounded coffee from Starbucks. My mom always had it around the house since I was in high school. I hate to say it, but I'm a Starbucks kind of guy" (laughs).
   The almost 22-year-old has a fond love for coffee, khakis, and TOMS shoes, which were major themes of his 2017 mixtape Khaki Fields. Released under a pseudo-name of Papa Josh Rainy (playing off of Father John Misty), it's a very silly, relaxed album full of indie rock songs that poke fun at his own personality and interests. Bokor doesn't really take the tape for granted these days. "It was literally a joke. I was listening to a lot of Josh Tillman's music at the time, especially Pure Comedy. It's a great record, but I was way too into parody instead of originality. So at the time I thought, why not? The design of the album is terrible. It's amateurish, for sure." Bokor shifts to much more serious topics on Seasonal Depression, his new album released on his own label, blatantly titled Josh's Record Label. It's full of much more complex and rich arrangements than before, while retaining some of the witty, observant lyrics he still pokes fun at. He even manages to get major guest features, including Leslie Feist, Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth, and more. "These are artists that I truly admire and definitely grew up admiring. They've all contributed to some of my favorite records of all time, records like Pleasure, Contra, Helplessness Blues, Swing Lo Magellan. I sent tracks via email and I really didn't expect to get any responses. When I did, I absolutely freaked out. These people mean a lot to me and having them on my record is priceless."
   Spending the majority of his childhood in Canton, Georgia, Bokor currently resides in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The transition was difficult at first, he states, but is very happy that the move happened at the right time. "I feel like without that drastic transition, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I'm not sure if I would've matured as much and I don't even know if I'd pursue graphic design either." Seasonal Depression isn't the same indie rock that Bokor casually laid out on on Khaki Fields. This time, it's enriched with immaculate instrumentation, ranging from synths and strings to complex rhythm and key changes. "I definitely wanted to try new things and experiment more. I didn't want to just do the guitar and piano deal anymore." The album focuses on his longing for warmer weather during the colder months ("Sunny Disposition"), isolation ("Quiet Life"), his feelings on current political topics like climate change ("Icecapped,"), light pollution ("Faded Sky"), and immigration ("Whose Land Is This?"). "I thought the album's title was very fitting, especially in 2019," Bokor noted. "Seemingly every Winter, I imagine warmer climates and happy memories of Summer and youth. I wanted to hone in on why that is, while addressing the things that aren't imaginary and should be in the forefront of everyone's minds, like climate change, immigration and light pollution. I mean, no one's talking about light pollution. It's crazy."
What are some of your major influences behind this record?
I didn't really notice this until recently, but most of the albums I loved the most last year heavily focused on political themes, albums from Tune-Yards, Parquet Courts, Janelle Monáe, U.S. Girls. I was first introduced to U.S. Girls last year. Her newest album was polarizing, dark, funny. It's super fun and catchy, despite the really dark lyrics about gender and individuality. I listened to it so much. I loved the idea of having different styles of songs coming together as a compilation of sorts, while still resonating as a cohesive album that people can really appreciate.
This album has a lot of dark humor, especially on "Steeping in My Sorrows." Is humor always influenced in your work?
Quite often, actually. I think humor copes when working on stuff, especially if it has to do with hard topics. It also seems to go much smoother than if I was trying to be serious all the time. Some areas, of course, I have to be serious, but it's nice to let loose every once and awhile in the creative field. I try to add humor into my design work, my writing, even my Instagram account (laughs).
What was it like collaborating with so many people who've influenced you?
It was a surreal experience. I was kind of shocked the whole time, thinking "I can't believe this is happening." I'm very grateful and the process went very easily with no screw-ups. Maybe some from me but definitely not from any of them (laughs).
"Looking for a Sign / Blueberry Latte" acts like a centerpiece and sounds like the most experimental and adventurous song on the album. How did this song come to be?
I was thinking about notable events I've spent during the Winter recently. There was one time I remember earlier last year while I was in Signage class. We had to take pictures of signs in our environment, so me and a friend decided to go to an antique store in town and we walked around, discovering new things. She was really fascinated by vintage match boxes. We stopped by a local cafe and I tried my very first blueberry latte, which I didn't even know existed. It was surprisingly good, but I haven't tried it since, since it was like $6 (laughs). It was a really fun experience I had and was one of the very few times we actually hanged out. I wanted to write about it since it was a very happy memory during a very snowy, desolate time for me. Instrumentally, the stylistic shifts in the song were heavily inspired by the many unexpected changes on Crack-Up, the Fleet Foxes record. I wanted to make a song that would continue to surprise listeners like that record did. That's why I asked Robin to contribute to the song.
Climate change is all over Seasonal Depression. Why is it so important to you?
To me, it's the biggest issue right now. I get this panicky feeling just thinking about it. I think we need to ask ourselves what is the most important problem right now. It's not so much a debate where "climate change exists or not" or anything like that. It's more of "what we should do to fix it." We need to act now. There is no tomorrow otherwise, or there would be very few tomorrows left. I feel like now would be a perfect time to express my concern about it on record for people to hear. Hopefully some people will hear this and let their own voices be heard.
You seem to always be into new music on your Instagram account with your "Josh Jams." Any recent music recommendations you'd like to share?
I've been listening to the new record from Helado Negro quite a bit today, actually. It has really beautiful sentiments to celebrating race and family. The new Deerhunter record is very apocalyptic lyrically but is very, very fun to jam out to. It really resonates with me right now. The new Jenny Lewis one is perfect for the springtime. The new American Football record is very pretty and atmospheric. It perfectly resembles a hazy Summer evening outside your backyard, being content after eating a nice burger (laughs).