Watch TV

VINYL FORMAT. Although Watch TV is only Josh Ottum's second album, it is the result of years of songwriting, experimentation, sonic exploration, and personal introspection. Recorded piece-by-piece at both Richard Swift's National Freedom studio in Cottage Grove, Oregon, and Casey Foubert's Metal Camp in Enatai, Washington, between 2007 and 2010, Watch TV is a sonically unified album, even as it remains a study in contrasts. Josh consciously chose to utilize an accessible musical palette in both his melodies and in his instrumentation. Indeed, a lot of the programming for the album was done on the consumer music software GarageBand. There are pop hooks galore and there are heartbreaking ballads that fit somewhere between some of Paul Simon's most transparent work and David Foster-produced '80s ballads by Chicago and Lionel. As Josh notes, "I've always loved midi sounds, fake choirs and sampled steel drums. I am also aware of how ridiculous these things are. I don't like them -- I love them." But at the same time he's stressing consumer instruments and technology and accessible melodies and hooks, Josh remains interested in compositional complexity.