By John Bricker
Because video game soundtracks use a dizzying variety of genres and emotions to immerse players, it makes sense that a singer-songwriter so heavily influenced by that music would make an album like “Yearn in Years.”
Along with capturing the nostalgic beauty of the music he loves, Josiah Everhart’s debut full-length album establishes his unique voice as a songwriter, creating a final product just as catchy as it is heartbreaking.
After years of posting his folksy reinterpretations of songs from classic video games on YouTube, the Oregon-native released his first collection of original music, “Songs Come and Gone,” in 2017.
Everhart said he learned a lot about music production since releasing a compilation of his first seven original tracks in 2017.
“I still don’t really know what I’m doing, but even back when ‘Songs Come and Gone’ came out, I wasn’t really trying to branch out, learn more and experiment,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of that on the new album.”
Everhart continued to release video game covers and original music on his YouTube channel every few months, but Everhart said YouTube is now an unreliable platform.
YouTube terminated his channel on Dec. 18, 2019 before reinstating it later that day, falsely flagging it for violating community guidelines, according to a statement on Twitter by Team YouTube.
YouTube support emailed Everhart the morning of Dec. 18 to notify him that his channel had been terminated, telling him he could appeal the decision without explaining why it had been made.
Everhart later said he did not know why his channel was terminated. “They hung me out to dry,” he said.
Everhart, his Twitter followers and fellow YouTubers repeatedly reached out to YouTube for further comment. The website reinstated his channel, restored his subscriber count and reposted all of his past videos.
Everhart said his channel’s termination reinforced what he knew about how YouTube treats creators and that he hopes “Yearn in Years” will help him transition into streaming as a more reliable and financially sustainable way to release music.
While “Songs Come and Gone” delivered minimal instrumentation and intimate vocals, “Yearn in Years” represents a complete evolution of his sound, using grand palettes and generous effects to create more theatrical and engrossing songs.
Opening synth track “Dead Moons” establishes Everhart’s lavish sound with atmospheric effects and airy vocals. The track’s repetitive chords and stiff programmed drums could easily become stale if not for the track’s eerie and somber soundscape, which complements Everhart's moody, vaguely sci-fi lyrics with ghostly vocal harmonies and synths.
The album’s dynamic and detailed production reaches its peak on “Hey, Mister,” where the core acoustic arpeggios, spacey drums and soft bass are elevated with glorious layers of backing harmonies and watery slide guitar licks.
After gorgeous compositional twists and turns, “Hey, Mister” ends with one last added layer of distant electric guitar, bringing this intricate soundscape to an epic conclusion.
Unfortunately, the one track where the album’s spacey production becomes muddy is on the closer, “Without.” After opening with beautiful splashes of muffled guitars, the song builds with layers of soft synths and a simple beat into a chorus so washed out that all the cymbal crashes and bright synths melt together.
The short three minutes of “Without” does not quite provide enough time to build up to such a climax, resulting in a track that feels messy.
Everhart’s confessional and poetic songwriting keeps the album entertaining and potent, even when the production falters. Although Everhart has always had a knack for writing lovely, melancholy songs, his work on “Yearn in Years” takes a much darker turn, using gorgeous sounds to highlight uncompromisingly honest lyrics.
On its surface, “I Just Want To” is a happy song, using a bossa nova groove, warm keyboards, cheerful vocal harmonies and bouncy synth tones to create an instant earworm.
Everhart betrays the song’s carefree mood with lyrics describing not being able to get out of bed and calling abandonment “more than I deserve.”
This contrast between dark lyrics and a happy tune speaks to the song's conflicted nature, which
Everhart described as half genuine, one-fourth dark humor and one-fourth satire of the empty self-pity in similar songs.
The contrast between the carefree instrumental and crushing lyrics make “I Just Want To” gut-
wrenching at times and darkly funny in others, but always a beautiful and courageous artistic statement.
Everhart follows this track with the bittersweet “Moons of Jupiter,” which pairs achingly gorgeous vocal melodies with sparkling acoustic arpeggios, soft synth tones and a spacey programmed drum beat. The song’s serene escapism, realized through dreamy harmonies and a lovely saxophone solo from jazz multi instrumentalist and fellow YouTube musician Carlos Eiene, makes Everhart’s lyrics about lost love and death even more impactful.
Everhart said he originally wrote “Moons of Jupiter” as “just a song about my favorite planet,” only to later realize he was writing about suicide.
“It’s almost like an end of the world song,” he said. “The whole album really is about depression and longing, which is why I called it ‘Yearn in Years.’ ”
Although YouTube’s brief termination has made posting video game covers on his channel less appealing, he is not worried about the financial viability of releasing music online.
He makes about $20 a month from ad revenue on YouTube and gets several times that from streaming on Spotify, which he believes is becoming more pro-artist. “Every paycheck I get from Spotify is better than the last,” Everhart said.
Everhart said he hopes “Yearn in Years” sells well so he can quit his day job and go on tour. “That’s what I want more than anything: the opportunity to make more music.”
Collaborators and fellow YouTube musicians like guitarist Richard Bichler and drummer Austin Perrilloux have already told Everhart they are willing to go on tour with him. “And I’m like, ‘I gotta make it happen!’ ”
