Joshua Burnside Announces new album ‘It’s Not Going to be Okay’ Released March 20th on Nettwerk
November 17, 2025 BY Bailey Vigliaturo
Today, Joshua Burnside announces his new album It’s Not Going to be Okay and shares his latest single and video “Moon High” an arresting and poignant cut from one of modern folk music’s essential artists.
This is a record born out of loss and the fragile act of continuing. Written and recorded in the wake of the death of Joshua’s closest friend, the album is his most stripped-back and unguarded work to date.
“I wrote and recorded this album after the death of my best friend Dean Jendoubi. He was an incredible person, and I miss him every day. He drifted unawares into the deepest sleep and died of a drug overdose on August 17th last year.
“Grief has always been a big part of my music; it’s the reason I started writing songs when I was 13. And so, as I did all those years ago, I reach for the guitar, try a few chords and sing a few words and for a brief moment I feel like it’s going to be okay.”
Discussing “Moon High” Burnside explains; “When grief is just too big to process your mind has some tricks up its sleeve for self-preservation.” Not long after Dean had died, I started telling myself that I didn’t care about it at all, that I didn’t care about him, or anyone even, and that I was an unemotional rock that could handle anything thrown at me. So, I just kept myself busy and kept my head down and soldiered on as if nothing had happened. Of course, that could only last so long, but that was the only way I could deal with it at that particular time. I completely broke down whilst parked at the side of the road, something about the crescent moon, high up in the blue sky that afternoon made me feel sad and it all came out then.”
Burnside is routinely lauded for his intricate production and layered storytelling, but here, he pares everything down here to its rawest form. It’s Not Going to be Okay is tender and unflinching, highlighting the beautiful simplicity of Burnside’s acoustic balladry and his poetic lyrics.
Where previous albums explored folklore, politics, and myth through surreal, tense textures and offbeat folk supplemented by electronica, It’s Not Going to be Okay distils his brilliance down with immaculate precision where each track serves like an entry into a grief journal.
STREAM AND SHARE “MOON HIGH”
https://joshuaburnside.ffm.to/moonhigh
“MOON HIGH” VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdnD0M4dZJs