Bassist, producer, and songwriter Joshua Crumbly announced his sophomore full-length ForEver, out October 8th via Shahzad Ismaily’s figureight records. The announcement comes with a Giraffe Studios-directed video for the first single “The See,” featuring renowned producer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Gendel on saxophone.

Joshua is genre-blurring artist and sought after bassist who’s recorded and toured with artists like Kamasi Washington, Leon Bridges, Terence Blanchard, and more. His debut album Rise was released last year with critical praise. Though centred around the bass guitar, ForEver uses additional instrumentation with subtlety and grace.

Joshua made his musical debut aged 10, playing alongside his saxophonist father. A gifted performer, even as a pre-teen, he enjoyed mentorships with renowned bass players Reggie Hamilton (Whitney Houston, Seal) and Al McKibbon (Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins) before moving from LA to New York to attend the prestigious Juilliard music school.

After years of honing his musicality alongside seminal players, Joshua finally embarked on recording his own solo pieces, beginning with 2020’s Rise. The starting place of ForEver quickly followed, beginning with encouraging words from friend and collaborator Shahzad Ismaily. 

“ForEver began with an out of the blue call from Shahzad,” Joshua explains “He told me that I needed to record a solo bass album. It started out as such, then I added some other instruments. It branched out even further when I reached out to a few friends, whose voice I was strongly hearing on particular songs. I’m grateful they were down to be a part of the record.”

figureight records is a creative project led by Shahzad Ismaily. The label has to date released records by múm founding member Gyda Valtysdottir, NYC super-producer Randall Dunn, Jon Hopkins and Brian Eno collaborator Leo Abrahams, Spotify chart-topping indie artist Toth, and more.

Photo Courtesy: Drew Robinson