This 10-song collection marks Walker’s most ambitious concept album to date as he inhabits the inner lives of inanimate objects, writing each song from the perspective of an item at an estate sale. Arriving just months after the surprise release of his critically acclaimed beach-country album Tropicana, Stuff is a major stylistic shift for Walker as he explores stripped-down, experimental indie-folk and Americana, drawing inspiration from the indie music he listened to as a teenager, like Bon Iver, Beirut, and The Postal Service. The album is the second in a trilogy of albums he vowed to record during his battle with cancer. Walker hopes that by relating to these inanimate characters, listeners will learn to better connect to living ones, too. “It's probably lofty to think that an album about bowling balls and Barbie dolls is going to make people think about their relationship with their neighbors or community,” he says. “But maybe subconsciously, if people can connect with these things that aren't even people, it'll make them a little better at connecting with people.”
Wednesday 10/22: Joshua Ray Walker – Stuff
