In Focus: Josiah Johnson and The Sea The Sea at Takk House

On Friday, September 23rd, 2022, Josiah Johnson gave a heart-felt performance at the Takk House in Troy.

Josiah Johnson was originally part of the indie-folk band, The Head and The Heart band from 2009-2016. He left after his realization that his struggles with drug addiction needed to be put in check. After entering rehab and working on himself, Johnson came back to begin his solo career in 2020 with his album Every Feeling on a Loop. Today, he continues making indie-folk music with his most recently released song “You Had One Job.”

This was not a typical show were guests showed up, saw their favorite artist perform, and then went home. Before the music, there was an all vegan, four course dinner catered by Meadow Lark. The artists and the guests shared a dinner between four tables in front of the stage. The dinner lasted two hours before the opening act.

The Sea The Sea is an indie-folk pop duo out of Troy with Chuck E. Costa and Mira Costa have released three full-length albums. Their most recent album being Stumbling Home released in 2020. They are currently on tour with their next show being in New York City on September 27th.

The Sea The Sea opened up the night to an audience of about 50 people. The local artists played an hour long set with a mix of released and unreleased songs. After a fan yelled asking were they could find ” I Recorded The Sound Of Rain For You,” Mira replied that most of their music could be found on Patreon. They were anecdotes before almost every song and lots of jokes about making their songs “25 years ago in 2020.” The anecdotes combined with their Indie-Folk style of music made it feel as though a story was being told. The duo ended the set be going to the middle of the room and singing their last two fans with members of the audience.

The stories continued when Josiah Johnson came to the stage. He also gave the audience a brief history of how the preceding song came to be. He mentioned his struggles with rehab and relationships that gave his performance a different meaning. The audience was already mostly comprised of friends of the artists, but once it over, it felt as if everyone had known Josiah for 10 years. His intimate feeling set lasted for about an hour and also ended with him and violinist M’Gilvry Allen playing in the middle of the room. In this instance, The Sea The Sea joined them to close out the night.

Josiah Johnson continues his tour with a show at The Sultan Room in Brooklyn on September 27.

The Sea The Sea setlist: Restless Heart, Rainstorm, I’ll Be Loving You, I Recorded The Sound Of Rain For You, A Thousand Years, Everybody, Let Our Kites Fly, The Story That They Gave To Us, Not The Same As Goodbye, Stumbling Home, LWAWL, This Is The Way

Josiah Johnson setlist: False Alarms, Warm, Nobody Knows, Honey Come Home, Woman, Futile Devices, Josh, Hello Hello, I Wish I Had

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