Detroit-based duo Gosh Pith released their second EP Gold Chain.
Josh Freed and Josh Smith are the artists behind the band.
Their music is difficult to categorize – think heavy beats and drum loops juxtaposed with soft melodies, easygoing vocals and traces of electric guitar.
These self-proclaimed "children of the Internet" say their musical influences are wide-ranging, from folk and rock to hip-hop, techno, and R&B. But it's ragga – often called dancehall or dub – that has won them over in recent years.
Freed and Smith are from Oakland County. They met in college. Two years ago they moved to Detroit. Smith writes the lyrics, melodies and plays guitar. He says the rich music scene in Detroit helped the two friends hone their sound.
"We were super wide-eyed and these new experiences that we were having in Detroit with the musical scene was really informing what we were creating."
With experience comes knowledge, and Freed says they now know what kind of sound they want to have.
"It might sound a little corny to say but we found our sound or really more like we knew what we liked, what direction we wanted to go so we just honed in on a few of the ideas that we started to explore on the Window EP and brought them into greater light and brought them into fruition with this new Gold Chain EP."
On the four-track album, Smith and Freed take listeners on a journey of sorts. A story in four acts. Smith describes the first track as a call on the muses. The beginning of a love story.
Smith calls the second track, K9 a siren song.
Track three, New Balance sets the scene of running from the cops, getting in trouble and the journey back home. "Act 3 is like the big ... the great adventure," says Freed.
The EP Gold Chain ends with a track called Scope. It's a melancholy tune, one that leaves the listener thinking of a time they'll never get back.
"Gosh Pith" is kicking off their tour with a show in Grand Rapids tonight at the Pyramid Scheme.
