Virginia Beach indie-rock artist Josy has been playing music in front of people for most of his life. Talent and dedication put him in a position to play with legends like Jake Clemons of the E Street Band and tour the nation with acts like Mae and We Are Trees — but he’s always been on a journey to making music of his own. His band Ladada began as a solo project more than a decade ago, evolving into a collaborative 4-piece rock outfit with a string of LPs and EPs lining the road. While the band has a range of sound directions taken over the years, not every song of Josy’s gets released into the wild.

Enter Josy and the Mind Readers…with an EP title that not only instructs but explains: sigh some more (because it releases endorphins and reduces anxiety). Five songs collected from across the Josy-verse stretching back from his high school years all the way up to 2025. 

Freedom comes at the cost of getting lost from time to time and the first single “from the outside in” reflects on that inevitable uncertainty. From the first trumpeting notes of the synth to the steadily loping bass, the second track’s atmosphere is like somebody took Dr. Dog for a walk on a Pavement song while the lyrics float away like a balloon on a breeze.

The first track of the EP, “can u hear me”, wrestles with big existential themes for such a short, sweet song. Between the old rock’n’roll backup vox and the Descartian chorus “Love exists in my mind / And freedom lives”, one might be forgiven for mistaking this for a Beatles demo.

Weighing the information at hand against our inspirations and fixations can lead us on winding paths. The third track, “blessings of numerology”, has the least lyrics of any song on the EP. Perhaps that helps them take on greater significance like mangled mysticism or lucky numbers for a lottery ticket. The song accepts the beautiful unknown and acknowledges that the manner by which we explore it is not cautious, conventional, or complete. The first half reserves a pace reminiscent of Elliott Smith. The back half abandons lyrics altogether while we wonder if the song’s tempo change is the true numerical revelation.

Track four, “hidden rock”, feels like a song one would play around a bonfire on a beach after a day of surfing the relentless waves of rock distortion. Somebody else inexplicably brought a djembe. At first it’s just a jam between friends, but the outside world melts away as Josystarts to sing.

Finally, “shut it out” feels like a vault door opening to a portal through time. An early Radiohead vibe from the guitar sets the anxious tone, but the song takes all the time it needs, relaxed in Josy’s convictions. 

Photo Courtesy: Korey Jackson