Josef Salvat

“For me, this is the music I’ve always wanted to release,” admits Josef Salvat. The Australian singer-songwriter is speaking with GAY TIMES about his third studio album, Islands, which sees him take a more inhibited (and upbeat) approach to the “sad songs wrapped in sugar” sound that garnered him a legion of ardent admirers with his 2016 debut Night Swim and critically-acclaimed 2020 album Modern Anxiety. Thanks to breaking free from the “corporate” restraints of his record label, Islands is arguably Josef at his most assured and “liberated”; however the star says all three records share the same “theme globally, which is the business of being a messy kind of human”. He tells us: “Going independent has allowed me to restructure how I feel about what I do, which isn’t about trying to sell songs and be famous - it’s to make music. That was like a fucking oasis in a desert and that made me a lot happier as a person, and a lot calmer.” An expertly crafted collection of earworms from start to finish, Islands is a must-listen for lovers of audacious and - becausen this is Josef Salvat - anxious queer pop. Here,