When not in the group Moore Ave, singer-songwriter Josh Gaudette has plenty on the go in his own life. But Gaudette, using the name numberonesun, has opened himself up with the shimmering, highly contagious indie pop single “Over Again.” It’s a song addressing a personal issue that many have and can successfully deal with.
“‘Over Again’ is about discovering my issues with anxiety, learning what it feels like to me, how it presents itself to the ones I love, learning to live with it everyday, and working towards conquering it one day at a time,” the artist says. “‘Over Again’ really punctuates the topics that surround the record it is preceding.”
The single, written by numberonesun, is a fantastic indie pop song that hits all the right buttons to start, recalling Dashboard Confessional, Jimmy Eat World, City and Colour and even the tight, infectious highbrow pop of Neil Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz). “Over Again,” produced, recorded, and mixed by Adam Michael (of the rock group Say Yes) and mastered by Kristian Montano of Toronto’s Montano Mastering, also features cavity-inducing harmonies by Jackie McBrien while Michael fleshed out the single with additional instrumentation. Additionally, a music video for “Over Again” was made by Shawn MacDonald.
“Over Again” originated after numberonesun and Michael made a roughly six-hour trek to Cloyne, Ontario where one of the producer’s family friends has a cabin. “We ended up recording a full record worth of tunes in three days,” the singer says. “‘Over Again’ was just one of the ideas I had; it was just a chorus, essentially. In between tracks, I went outside and got really inspired to start diving into the idea more and in no time came out with a tune I am super proud of.”
Influenced by the late Gord Downie, Dallas Green, Weezer’s vocalist Rivers Cuomo and the late Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, numberonesun originated initially by accident. Gaudette approached Moore Ave with some songs for the group to record. The group believed the material would be much better served as a solo project for the artist. From there Gaudette contacted Michael and thus numberonesun came to fruition.
“I remember the night I was going through all of my voice notes and demos trying to figure out what I wanted to do with all these emotional down tempo songs I had been writing,” he says. “Thanks to some very strong direction from my Dad, I reached out to my buddy Adam and asked if he wanted to make a record.”
An active participant in his own community of Alymer, Ontario, Gaudette is a manager at McDonald’s, teaches karate at a local studio, and is a member of a local service club. Additionally, he has helped organize an annual benefit concert (one that has been held for 12 years) that has “donated thousands of dollars and thousands of pounds of non-perishables and dry goods to the local food bank.”
With the debut album from numberonesun on the horizon, “Over Again” is a fantastic introduction into what is sure to be an excellent batch of material that is both extremely alluring and quite well-crafted. While describing the project as an artist “that writes and performs sad tunes to be sad to,” numberonesun and the new single “Over Again” is sure to leave you with a wide-eyed grin. And wanting to listen to it over and over again.
