PREMIERE | Josephine, "How I Love You"
Introducing Chicago’s latest breakout star Josephine; photographed by Francisco A. Arreguin.
Expressions, evocations and illustrations of affections and endearment are an art that is very unique and specific to each and every individual. For the brave artist who dares to put forth these innermost sentiments for others to hear, see, feel and experience — it is a very delicate, special and beautiful process. The vulnerable position in placing these personal items of intimacy are like putting keepsakes and heirlooms on a sacred altar, in recognition and/or memoriam of a beloved one. There are no set algorithms for this creative and specified process, but a praxis that is as marvelous as the nature of love itself. An adherence to sharing something beyond the extents of our own limited experience, the dear folks we allow into the sanctuaries of our lives that impact us in ways that are sometimes greater than we know offers perhaps new perspectives and understandings of bonds that work in mysterious and mystical ways.
It is in this spirit that Josephine shares the debut for the heartfelt single “How I Love You”. A song that is solemn, sweet without any saccharine and astounding in its elaborate yet understated atmosphere of infinitely emanating grace. The Chicago by way of Northfield/St. Paul, Minnesota artist Josephine Luhman continues to hone her evocative sound and voice, initially recording under the moniker of Joz and now sans surname. The composition of "How I Love You” has the instrumentation hanging on to every word, every aspect of feeling, every memory, allowing the mix to have ample space to create an atmosphere of remembrance and a psychic degree of lingering affection in hand with an unrequited affinity.
Sustained notes set up the song's atmospheric ambience, as Josephine begins the ballad with the sincerity of a warm embrace. "How I Love You" is more than just another love song, but an exemplary exercise in striving to convey something that transcends the transactional gestures and the limitations of language. Josephine allows her lyrics, bars, stanzas, verses and chorus to live in a cinematic sized world of its own, like an adaptation of a novel from the romantic letters, expounded into an epic that defies the conventions of the medium and genre principles. "How I Love You" captivates the throes of amour, rides upward toward the heavenly heights on the butterfly wings of feelings that are too wild for the confines of our own human comprehension. Josephine gives the audience those percolating warm fuzzies, the frenzied abandon of falling for another, the fantastical fallout, the what happens next when the scale of feelings are not accepted or received in full and followed by the great thereafter. The song lingers long after its four minute run, the titular chorus living rent free in the heart, mind and soul of the audience like the all encompassing sensations felt from a romantic bond that compares with nothing else you ever witnessed before in your lifetime.
Josephine beneath the marquee lights; photographed by Francisco A. Arreguin.
Josephine Luhman provided some exclusive insights on the creative process of developing “How I Love You” with the following:
The lyrics I remember came easy, they were things I had said in one way or another.
Josephine’s notes on translating affections into art; photographed by Francisco A. Arreguin.
One of my love languages is touch if that’s not obvious in the first verse. The chorus is also self explanatory. Willing to offer any and all parts of myself to this person in hopes that it’ll be enough, even reciprocated.
The craft of curating chords by Josephine; photographed by Francisco A. Arreguin.
Singing and playing this song the first few months after the breakup were hard. Lots of tears welled up but I love that I wrote it and I meant every word of it.
Josephine's debut EP Leaning is scheduled for early 2024.
Single artwork for “How I Love You", courtesy of Grey Fitzgerald.