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I Know You're Hurting,

Everyone Is Hurting,

Everyone Is Trying,

You’ve Got To Try

JOSHUA IDEHEN

Released 6 March 2026

Heavenly Recordings, [PIAS]

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A set of sincere, spoken-word explorations of everyday matters, that resonates far beyond the concerns of the individual voice delivering them.

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Joshua Idehen occupies a singular place in the halls of contemporary music - part poet, part vocalist, part rhythmic storyteller - a product of the UK’s ever-evolving spoken-word and jazz-adjacent scenes. He has collaborated widely with similarly innovative and boundary-pushing artists including Floating Points, Sons of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming, bringing a distinctive cadence and emotional candour to each project.

His work frequently inhabits the space between poetry recital, electronic composition and jazz groove, exploring themes of vulnerability, masculinity, friendship and mental resilience. I Know You Are Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You’ve Got to Try feels like the most distilled expression of that ethos yet.

The album’s extended title reads almost like a mantra, a phrase repeated to oneself in moments of doubt. Idehen’s delivery carries precisely that tone: conversational, reflective and quietly urgent. Rather than declaiming, he confides; the listener feels less like an audience than a companion in thought.

Musically the record moves through restrained electronic landscapes: gently pulsing synth lines, minimalist drum patterns and warm bass textures that leave generous space for the spoken word. The production never competes with Idehen’s voice, instead framing it with subtle rhythmic movement that occasionally hints at club culture while maintaining an introspective atmosphere. 

Lyrically, the focus is communal resilience. Idehen acknowledges anxiety, exhaustion and social disconnection but repeatedly returns to the idea that persistence, however fragile, remains possible.

While the startlnig sequence of confessional"Interlude -What You Need To Hear" and "Could Be Forever" is the standout  "Mum Does The Washing" humorously and succinctly wraps a simple metaphor around dozens of social  movements.

Idehen's work feels both personal and collective: a sequence of spoken reflections that resonate far beyond the individual voice delivering them. In its quiet insistence on empathy, the album becomes something rare commoddity - a record that comforts without sentimentality.

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