In case you missed them, let us catch you up. joan is a duo formed in and based out of Little Rock, Arkansas. Individually, they are Alan Benjamin Thomas and Steven Rutherford – two self-proclaimed saps. Their discography is packed full of jams that are full of what we can only dub the “joan flavor” – soft, male pop with some retro influence and a load of sweetness and heartwarming emotion. Their ballads are just as sonically captivating as their jams, which has been showcased over their 4 EPs (“portra”, “cloudy”, “hi”, and “bye”), full length album (“superglue”), and their latest singles connected to their upcoming full length project.

We sat down with them to talk about how things have changed and what the joan world might look like in the future, complete with lots of joking about titling this feature, “joan encourages people to go outside and steal birds…because they’re free”.

On “superglue”’s inspiration and creation…

joan’s first full length project, “superglue”, made its debut into this world in April 2023, thematically exploring feelings of introspection, insecurity, nervousness and awe, conflict, and nostalgia with lyrics that can only be held close to the heart. “Our earlier projects up to that point were about figuring out who we are as a band, writing some singles, and compiling them into EPs. With “superglue”, we had some concepts, but it was more about the songs rather than an overall theme.” Alan shared of the album’s beginnings.

“It’s been a journey of figuring out who we are and who we want to be and who we don’t want to be as a band, and what that looks like sonically. As a result of that, we have a wide range of what it means to be joan, and we went back and forth for months talking about what “superglue” was going to be. We ended up taking it a song at a time and figured out how that could work as an album, which is how you have songs like nervous, then songs like superglue. They are very different sonic palates and songs as a whole, but because they’re joan overall, we felt like it worked.”

“It felt like the most joan album we could create at that time because of that,” they shared. “Steven had a poem he had written that became the intro track, life death & everything in between, and we had both just had kids, our first daughters, and life was new. We had a literal new life in each of our worlds and it was a breath of fresh air and a new inspiration. We’ve found new meaning, personally. Little bundles of joy come along and it just answers a lot of life’s questions for you on a personal level.”

It’s true – there is a lot to be learned and shared about love and life, and so much of that is captured within joan’s music. Everything they craft makes your skin feel warm and transports you back to a time where you first experienced the most pure emotions you’ve ever felt.

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On the goal and what to expect with the next full length joan project…

“We’ve leveled up every cylinder firing. Wait. That’s not the right phrase. We’re firing on all cylinders!” the three of us giggled together. “We have the vision of what it’s going to look like. We have the sonic palette. We have the songs.”

Though joan isn’t ready to share the album title, Steven noted that they’re confident in executing the best album, in addition to feeling more DIY than they ever have in the past. “Our new project feels sadder to me.”

The first single from the album, heartbodymindsoul, embodied a bit of a more melancholy feel, tying in to the overarching theme we can anticipate on future singles. It’s upbeat and fun to the ears, but the subject matter “isn’t happy,” joan remarked. The song also features a fun chant/echo piece during the chorus, which proves to be a fun standout in their repertoire.

“Our new single, eyes, is out 11/14, and it’s a ballad, but it’s not a sad ballad. It’s about being locked into someone else’s eyes and seeing your whole life with them. All your fears being gone, so it’s a love song, a true, true love song. Sonically, we tried to bend it a little more to be a ‘well up your eyes’ kind of feeling.”

Of course, none of this is to say the project won’t encompass happier songs. Both Alan and Steven agreed that the color palette of their upcoming project is “very dark blue, dark red, dark orange, and everything in that kind of palette,” though neither of them claim to have synesthesia.

On being fully self-produced…

Recently, joan celebrated buying their own studio space in Little Rock! Last we’d caught up, they were working out of their home studio and working with a few different producers across their EPs and “superglue”. Since then, they now have a studio complete with a tracking room as part of a full house and have become fully self-produced. We couldn’t be more proud.

“Now, you’re not getting anything from anyone else, just mine and [Alan’s] brains on it essentially, and I love that,” they shared. “We feel more confident that we can execute a vision…more than ever.”

A personal goal of Alan’s was to become a good producer. “From day one, we could always take a song 75% there, some closer to 100%, but we always felt like we needed a polish on it. We worked with several producers across our projects, including Tim Pagnotta and Andy Seltzer, then the pivotal moment was when Steven and I decided we’d take on the project of finishing a song we needed to get completed as timelines just weren’t aligning with production. From that moment on, I definitely personally gained the confidence to do that.”

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On a fun little game of “kiss, marry, kill” with their 3 most recent EPs…

It’s no secret that every artist has their favorite releases (and for joan, two of their favorite songs they’ve ever written are nervous and waiting on nothing, both highly worth taking a listen) and their least favorites, so we had to be sure to ask the hardest hitting question of all. Of their 3 most recent EPs, “cloudy”, “hi”, and “bye”, how would they fare?

As a lover of all of their music, the answer was startling. Both Alan and Steven landed on the same answer:

Marry “cloudy”, kiss “hi”, kill “bye”.

“I mean, “cloudy” has brokenhearted, magnetic, love me better, so I was like, ‘oh, yeah, I’m marrying that hoe’.”

Author’s note: I’d swap “hi” and “bye” in their lineup, but you, as the reader, should listen to all 3 and decide for yourself.

On a smattering of 1-3 word titles…

One scroll down joan’s Spotify page and two things become abundantly clear:

1. Lowercase type is part of the joan brand and
2. They have an affinity for 1-3 word project/song titles

“Yes, this was intentional. And for our next album, I’m having a hard time not making all the titles just one word,” Steven laughed. “It probably won’t be, but even heartbodymindsoul felt too long, so we deleted the spaces as a life hack. Everything can be one word if you put your mind to it.”

Funny enough, this even extends to their band name. What's easier to say than one word that just rolls off the tongue?

“We both grew up listening to bands with 19 word titles, like Taking Back Sunday and basically any metal band.”

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On something they want readers to know…

“Well, one interesting thing about Alan is that he likes the Jamocha Almond Fudge ice cream from Baskin Robbins. That’s a cool one,” Steven shared with a smirk. “Also, I’m really into rinsing plates and other dishes right after using them instead of letting them sit. Everything just comes off so easily. I’m really into it.”

If it wasn’t painfully obvious, Alan and Steven are delights to talk to and brainstorm with every single time. But, after many giggles and debating about whether or not pots and pans are acceptable additions to the dishwasher, they ultimately wanted to share something dear to them.

“Something people always comment on is how we don’t sound like we’re from Arkansas. Everyone has an idea of something in their head when they hear Arkansas, but I don’t think we fit that. From our very first song, people always assume we’re from Nashville, London, New York, Los Angeles, or any big hub just based off of our sound. Then, you hear Little Rock, Arkansas, and you’re just like ‘what?’”

“It always surprises people whenever they hear that. I feel like we make big city music from a small town and I love that. I’m so proud of us because we’re forging our own path here. You don’t have to go into a big city to make big city music. We’re making it happen here in Little Rock.”

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There’s no better time to get into joan than right now, release day-eve for their latest single, eyes! Check out “superglue” here.

For more joan content (including their joanlyfans), visit their website and don't miss them on Instagram.

Track List: 01. COLORATURA 02. 24° 03' 27.0" N 123° 47' 7.5" E 03. mazamun 04. tower 05. aurora 06. FLAG 07. Cochlea 08. Luciférine 09. prisomnia 10. SONAR 11. 惑星の泪