CREDIT: INDOOR RECESS
Joshua Radin acquired a following after actor Zach Braff introduced his music on the hit show Scrubs.

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things.

There were two big factors that led to the indie invasion boiling over in the 2000’s, the nouveau-folk tide that would gradually evolve into the indie scene we know today.

The first was the Internet, and specifically the birth of Web 2.0 – blogging platforms and podcasts offered the web’s earliest tastemakers and savvier artists the means to broadcast music in new ways.

The other was a shift in thinking on television licensing: A new generation of music supervisors informed by more than the traditional mainstream means began to pair popular programs with some of the hottest unheard and indie acts. The public response was voracious. So, when actor Zach Braff introduced Joshua Radin’s music to the creator of Scrubs 10 years ago, the stage was set, and soon, Radin’s music was in millions of homes, with several of his earliest songs appearing in the series over time.

Radin made his return to radio with the release of on January 6, capturing the soft-spoken troubadour at his most natural in years, baring his heart to capture the affection of a woman with what he refers to as an album of love letters.

The opening track, “We’ll Keep Running Forever,” listens like a sultry Sade single. Its silky guitar tones and subtle groove complementing Radin’s soft vocal style.

“I wait for you alone, writing down the words I’ll say so I’ll be brave when you’re home,” he sings, setting the tone for the album by revealing his hand. (Onward and Sideways was born as Radin lay horizontally on a hotel bed, whiling away the daylight hours by writing songs to present to his belle upon her return from work during the day.)

“Every day she’d go to work and I’d just be sitting there with my guitar, thinking ‘well, I want to write her [a song] for when she comes home, so she has something to relax to,’” he said. “I’ve never written a record like this before.”

The woman in question was an acquaintance that he had known for six years. She was in a relationship, but there was something captivating about her, and when the time came that she was single again, Radin didn’t hesitate to make his feelings known. Separated by a continent and ocean, she was skeptical and gently uninterested, but he was determined and traveled to be with her once his prior tour finished.

“That’s how it felt when I was writing it – I certainly didn’t sit down and say, ‘I’m going to write an entire album about falling in love with someone,’ but it’s what came out,” Radin said. “I felt almost like a news reporter, in a sense that it was like an out-of-body experience, like, ‘what’s going on with Joshua Radin today?’”

Inspired by the whirlwind of new feelings and the musical climate of her native Sweden, Radin spent his days on his hotel bed, exploring all the beauty and ugliness of love, expertly capturing its dizzying highs and terrifying lows within the songs on Onward and Sideways.

In particular, “Worlds Apart” and “Old Friend” stand out as jewels, and Sheryl Crow’s contribution to the new version of “Beautiful Day” breathe new energy into a vibrant song.

“I spent a long time trying to tell her things that I felt, but some things need to be written out to get across what you really mean to say,” Radin said. “I guess I felt that if I put it in a song, it must be true, and I think she felt that way as well. People say things all the time, but if you put the time into writing someone an album, it shows you’ve really sacrificed your time ... and I think that’s when she finally started taking me seriously.”

For more on Joshua Radin and his brand new album, Onward and Sideways, visit joshuaradin.com or follow along on Twitter @joshuaradin. He performs in Toronto at the Virgin Mobile Mod Club on February 10, in concert with Cary Brothers and Rachel Yamagata. Tickets are available in advance via ticketmaster.ca.

And for more of the latest in music news and occasional reviews, follow this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. Nerd moment: Radin, Brothers and Yamagata all appeared on the soundtrack to The Last Kiss – which Zach Braff was involved in compiling and was released in 2006 – a recommended listen. I’m out of words.