Bay Area indie artist, Joseph Mossbridge is set to release his new sunny day single "Take a Drive" September 17th. After being cooped up during the pandemic, Mossbridge lets out his inner wanderlust with a bonafide chill hop bump.
Recommended for listeners of: Felly, Oliver Tree, and Rex Orange County.
Joseph Mossbridge is a 21 year old college student (Music Industry Major class of 22') at Northeastern University in Boston Massachusetts. He grew up in Evanston Illinois and then moved to the bay area (Sebastopol CA) at 16 years old. Making music for most of his life, Mossbridge started playing drums when he was 5 years old, and was involved in a number of musical activities during elementary and middle school (choir, playing saxophone in school band, school musicals).
At 9 years old, he started recording on GarageBand, yet as he continued to grow up, he kept the notion in his head that he wanted to go into STEM, and didn't even realize that making music was a career possibility. It wasn't until he was 14, that a friend mentioned something about FL Studio, and that was it. He's been producing ever since, slowly learning and getting better.
For the past year or so, Mossbridge has been fine tuning his debut album and Take A Drive is the first single for the project. The relaxed rhythm and bright synth tones really compliment Mossbridge's vocals, plus the bass brings an overall bounce to it; perfect for riding up and down the coast or having a backyard kickback. Clever use of samples and tropical melodies further push a summer-like atmosphere and help propel Mossbridge into the bedroom pop stratosphere.
A few weeks back I was able to ask Mossbridge a few questions before his release.
Here's what he had to say:
Q: How did you create your latest song, "Take a Drive"?
A: Take A Drive started out as a simple beat, which is the way most of my song ideas begin. It was a pretty nice day out, and I was feeling stuck in my dorm room, so I wanted to make a song about being outside. I recorded melody ideas (I almost always think of melody before words), and then wrote most of the song. This is often a challenge for me, but when I'm lucky, words can come more easily to me and this time that happened.
At this point, I had the concept of the song down, but it still needed some help lyrically, so I brought on my friend Maria Landi. Important side note, she is an awesome songwriter, who I am grateful to work with. After she helped make the song have a much better flow to it, I recorded the song with the help of my friend Connor Modungo, who owns a vibey home studio. He also mixed and mastered the song, and will be mixing and mastering my whole album.
I actually just sold the car that this song is about (a white 2011 Ford Fusion) to help pay for the marketing of this song and my debut album. I think it's cool that my car is memorialized a bit in the song and album art. I also want to note that I will be releasing a music video with Take A Drive when it comes out on September 17th.
Q: Any plans for the rest of the year?
A: Yes! My second single, called "Crossed Lines" comes out on October 15th, and my debut album comes out on November 17th, which is also my 22nd birthday. The best place to get updates on my releases/music/life is on my Instagram: @josephmossbridge
