After the success of baritone Josh Groban's debut album, Grobanites (nickname for Josh's VERY enthusiastic, some may say rabid, fans) had very high expectations of his sophomore album, entitled Closer. Returning for the second album were many of those who involved with the debut album, including producer David Foster (produced for Celine Dion). Closer gave Josh a chance to get more involved in the music, writing lyrics and playing piano on several of the tracks.

Josh had been a fan of world music for some time and loving the rhythms of Deep Forest, he sought out Eric Mouquet, of Deep Forest, for his creative input. "I realized early on the benefit of finding the right creative chemistry, which is why Eric [Mouquet] was also such a natural choice."----- "I'm a huge admirer of what they've done with artists like Peter Gabriel," Josh enthuses, "and I knew that they would take me in a whole new direction." Josh, in fact, ended up in Mouquet's converted chateau in Northern France for a week-long writing and recording odyssey that yielded two Closer selections, 'Never Let Go,' by Eric under the Deep Forest name (a little unusual since Deep Forest usually refers to both Eric Mouqet and Michel Sanchez). The second song was 'Remember When It Rained,' featuring Josh on vocals and, for the first time, on piano.

When Deep Forest worked with Peter Gabriel on 'While the Earth Sleeps', Peter didn't have time to write lyrics, so they recorded him singing without words and did some very elaborate mixing and sampling, to produce what sounded like a song with some mysterious foreign language. The same Deep Forest treatment wasn't likely for Josh's album, Foster insisted that all the songs on the album have lyrics. So to make 'Never Let Go' reminiscent of Deep Forest, it begins with some very subtle yodel-loops of Josh's voice, leading into 30 seconds of uncut-sampled improvisation accompanied by those same yodel-loops. After an approximate 45 second Deep Forest introduction Josh begins to sing:

I can’t understand it The search for an answer Is met with a darker day And we’ve been handed these moments Forever But I’m reassured There’s another way You don’t have to close your eyes There is room for love again Ease the pain to realize All that love can be Forced apart by time and sand Take a step And take my hand And don’t let it go Never let go Broken, once connected We were so strong and so blessed In a simple way So don’t let me go it alone

Turn your head up to the sky Nothing down below but me Face the truth to realize All that we could be Torn apart by rage and fear Hold on to what brought you here Don’t let it go Never let go Hold your head up to the sky Nothing down below but me Face the truth and realize All that we could be Turn your head up to the sky Nothing down below Don’t let go

It can definitely be said that 'Never Let Go' is a Groban song with Deep Forest influences and not vise versa. The focus stays on Josh's soaring voice, being careful not to overload the atmosphere with too many elements. Stylistically it is similar to Deep Forest's latest album Music Detected, with David Fall returning on drums, a little electric guitar, as well as a vocorder backed chorus.

Josh reflects back on 'Never Let Go'. "It's a beautiful song, but I think it's a little different from what people might expect and a great introduction to what I'd like to be doing in the future. There's a great balance between my sensibility and that of Deep Forest, who play on the track and the result is that I get to rock out a bit".

In addition to 'Never Let Go' Eric and Josh also worked on a second song, initially entitled 'Rain Song', later renamed to 'Remember When it Rained'. "It began as a melody that my friend Eric Mouquet hummed into a tape recorder and sent me in the mail. ----- He was just looking out his window in his studio and it was raining and he just came up with this melody, he kinda, he can't sing so he sang through this vocorder, it had this weird vibe to it but the melody stuck in my head, and that was the sure fire that I knew we would get to do when I went to France." The outcome was a sweet and gentle song with melancholy intonations, building up to spirit-raising moments. 'Remember When it Rained' has already received a lot of praise, and is considered many Grobanites' favorite song on the new album. Some would even like to see Eric Mouquet produce Josh's entire next album! At the very least, Eric and Josh have talked about working together again in the future. This song will undoubtedly spark a single, and add to Eric's very successful and busy year in producing.

Besides the songs in collaboration with Eric and Deep Forest, there are eleven other well arranged pieces to show off the young baritone's vocal abilities. Other highlights are the opening track 'Oceano' (sung in Italian) and 'You Raise Me Up', which was also the first single. If you are a fan of Josh, or don't know Josh but like Charlotte Church, get your hands on this one. If you are a big Deep Forest you'll naturally have to buy Closer for 'Never Let Go' and 'Remember When It Rained', and who knows, maybe you'll be the next new Grobanite.

Watch Josh talk about his collaboration with Eric on 'Remember When It Rained'

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Samples of:

Never Let Go

Remember When It Rained

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Some obtained from William Morris Agency and Amazon.com
thanks to Liz Rosenberg for Groban media and info.