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Away arrives seven years after the release of Joe Passed's debut LP Their Prime released in 2018. The new album sees the band, fronted by singer-songwriter and producer Jo Hirabayashi, centre around Hirabayashi's mental health and recovery journey between albums.
The lead single, "Ico", was born out of the COVID-19 pandemic and is an account of the 15-year-old cat of the same name that Hirabayashi co-parented for five years. "The lockdown era of the still-present COVID pandemic is already a kind of retro-referenced universe, and everyone seemed to write their own songs from that time. This one is mine,” Hirabayashi says of the track.
“But more than that, this song is about my cat – her freedom in repetition, the steady rhythm of her days. Her calm, grounding presence became both a mentor and a lifesaver for me during those years, and I owe everything to her. Sadly, she’s been diagnosed with lung cancer and kidney failure. I'm hoping that I can get this record out and that song out before she passes away. Everything else on the album is this dark, dreary exploration of anxiety and human fixation, and I felt it needed something that was more positive.”
Additionally, Hirabayashi describes Away as "a process record – about processing, about the process of making music, and the process of navigating one's own psyche."
Ahead of the release, Joe Passed have also announced a string of tour dates across the US and Canada.
English (US) · 