Joshua Crumbly | "ForEver"

Bassist, producer, and songwriter Joshua Crumbly has released his sophomore full-length ForEver via figureight records — guests on the album include Shahzad Ismaily, Sam Gendel, Jay Bellerose, and more. So far, ForEver has been praised by Cool Hunting, Hypebeast, Popmatters, No Treble, WBGO, MXDWN, Under The Radar, and NPR Music, who spoke about the album on their New Music Friday podcast. 

Joshua is genre-blurring artist and sought after bassist who’s recorded and toured with artists like Kamasi Washington, Leon Bridges, Terence Blanchard, and Bob Dylan, performing in Dylan’s 2021 concert film Shadow Kingdom. Crumbly’s 2020 debut album Rise was met with praise from Hypebeast, Indieshuffle, Jazziz, WBGO, Earmilk, No Treble, Exclaim!, Glide, Ones to Watch, and The FADER, who said Rise featured “explosions of synths mixed with a driving drum pattern that has the dusty texture of a jazz lounge.” 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.