Manchester based singer/songwriter Josephine Oniyama just released the first single off her upcoming sophomore album. The single in question titled "'Til You" is a vibrant and uplifting new tune that dwells on being true to oneself regardless of external forces and whatnot.
From a music standpoint, the vintage production and arrangement are noteworthy but ultimately it's her vocal performance that separates her from the rest of the pack. In a nutshell, she really knows her stuff back to front.
‘Til You’ follows Josephine’s critically lauded debut album, Portrait, which received high praise from the likes of The Sunday Times, Mojo, Q and Uncut, the latter describing her as ‘an original unfolding talent”. Following the album’s release, Josephine appeared on Later…with Jools Holland, toured the UK and Europe extensively and played numerous festivals including Glastonbury, Latitude, and T In The Park.
Josephine’s musical career began at the age of 12 with the purchasing of a guitar by her mother, a moment cast as the catalyst for the success that would come in the future. Enabled on her debut album by the prowess of her collaborators, including Mercury nominee, Ed Harcourt, Leo Abrahams (Regina Spektor, Paolo Nutini) and Jimmy Hogarth (Amy Winehouse, Suzanne Vega), Josephine carved a sound that vocally recalled ‘the Queen of Gospel’ – with influences including Mahalia Jackson, Joni Mitchell and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
In the time since promoting her debut album, Josephine has scored and performed ‘Celluloid History Songs’ as part of a film installation at Manchester’s HOME, performed at Zimbabwe’s HIFA festival via the British Council, Guy Garvey’s Meltdown curation and the Miu Miu Paris fashion launch. More recently, as well as writing for her new album and completing an English Literature MA, she featured on the Travis single 'Idlewild' as well as recording/collaborating with Matthew Halsall then touring with both Halsall and Travis over the last couple of years.
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