Beloved Arkansas duo joan shared their final single of 2021, ‘not over you’, alongside their new EP bye, out today, Dec. 6.
bye is the second of two EPs that joan have released this Autumn via Photo Finish Records, with the songs on this release focusing on relationships coming to an end.
Last month, joan released their hi EP, which focused on the giddiness, hope and joy that comes at the beginning of new love and new relationships. joan have also announced an extensive tour of the US due to take place in 2022, see below for a full list of dates. Tickets are on sale now.
About “not over you” joan explain “we had a completely different song that we thought would be the last installment of the bye ep, and then this song came out of nowhere and hit us in the chest. the hook is so simple, but somehow hits harder every time you hear it - ‘i’m not over you, but i’m trying to get over you’ - ooof. it turned out to be one of our absolute favorites we’ve ever written. we hope it comforts you if you need comfort, and we hope it can help you if you need a good cry.”
joan’s new chapter ‘wave era’ saw new singles from two EPs landing on the first Thursday of each month, soundtracking 2021 with their trademark alt-pop bops, tinged with the sweetest hint of 90’s R&B influences. Titled hi and bye, joan explain “after we released “cloudy/partly cloudy”, we got straight to work, writing so many new songs. we found that the songs were naturally falling in two different camps. so, we decided rather than trying to force them to work together, it would be more interesting to release two eps over the course of the year. welcome to the wave era - here comes a new joan song each month through the end of the year :)”. hi and bye are available to stream now!
joan (Alan Benjamin Thomas and Steven Rutherford) have spent the past few years building their musical empire, single by single, tour date by tour date, with the past two years being landmarks for them; their debut EP, 2019’s portra, and last year’s EP cloudy have been streamed well over 90 million times, with over a million listeners a month across streaming platforms.
The guys spent much of 2019 on the road with major US and international tours supporting the likes of The Aces, COIN, Bloc Party and Jeremy Zucker, as well as playing to fans across Asia with headline shows and festivals in the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Early 2020 saw them playing to sold out crowds across the US on their first headline tour, including having to add additional shows in LA to accommodate ticket demand. Their virtual cloudy release show in August 2020 boasted thousands of ticket sales from fans who tuned into their livestream. 2021 was an incredibly exciting year for joan, and they’re only just getting started.