Musical Treasures with Joseph of Mercury

An acclaimed songwriter and producer, Joseph W. Salusbury stepped out on his own this year with his debut single “Without Words.” Creating a smooth blend of indie and electro-pop, the Toronto-based artist shines on his most recent single, “Find You Inside.” Leading into his debut EP, Joseph shared with C-Heads a handful of musical treasures he holds closest to his heart, which are also consequently critical to the artistic identity of Joseph of Mercury.

Words by Andy Gorel
Photography by Gemma D Warren and Thomas van der Zaag

To be honest I’m not really a fan of favourites, but here are 5 songs that whether I like or love or hate them… have left some mark on my life or how i see the world. So I’m just going to do that… fair warning, I’m going to jump around a little through time for this…

Nat King Cole – Autumn Leaves

I’ve mentioned before to people who have asked, that some of my first memories of music, came by way of my paternal Grandfather… I was actually named after him, though he went by “Joe”.

I have a very very vivid image of him sitting by the window, perhaps I had just woken up & wandered into the room. In any case he sees me, & he stands up, & he walks over and past me to the record player, & it makes so much noise, the creaking & scratching & it’s awful, until all of a sudden it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. There are strings & woodwinds now, filling the air, I have no idea what they are, I just know I love them more than anything, & then some man with a voice so entirely under his control, & it’s made of velvet, & I don’t know what that is either, but I do, & it’s incredible.

As a kid I was quite the mirror, i imitated everything, but no matter what I did I could not make the sound of velvet. Now years later, a grown man, my grandfather long past, I’m still just out here trying to sound like velvet. Nat King Cole, “Autumn Leaves” that one I will always love…

Rolling Stones – Under My Thumb

It was 5am, we had been on a boat cruise birthday party for another friend, with Hannah Gaby & her now Husband John, it took us around the Statue of Liberty, as we danced under cheap LED RAINBOWS & were unceremoniously accosted by more bass out the speakers than the great green lady had ever yet known.

My best friend Joachim ended up heading back to the apartment of his girlfriend at the time, affording me the pleasure of an entire bed to sleep on. This was now wasted gesture as I found myself to tired to move from his rather pleasantly ornate & unfortunately angular couch. I had thrown “AFTERMATH” onto the record player as I came in & now “UNDER MY THUMB” by “The Rolling Stones” played over & over & over caught up in a loop…

The song must have repeated for a solid hour until I lost consciousness. I came to with the sound of Joachim laying haymakers on the three times bolted door by the kitchen… calling out my name to “OPEN UP”. As I pulled myself free from a disheveled collection of cushions & limbs, I realized the record was still going.
Which lined up with the fact that someone in my dream had repeated the phrase “take it easy baby” & “it’s alright” over & over & over without much context as to why…

So in that, I can’t tell if this is one of my favourite songs, or just the only one that I’ve been in the presence of for nearly half a day… but it’s certainly always in the back of my mind.

California Dreamin’ – Mamas & the Papas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-aK6JnyFmk
I remember hearing CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ for the first time & just knowing what California looked like…
Not because they ever really talk about it in the song, but just because I new it was so clearly the opposite of where I was…

It was warm, & beautiful, & free, & colourful, all the oceans & mountains, palm trees & movie stars…
& still to this day, every time I hear it, it all comes back, in that very same way, all those very same images pass through my mind… & that notion that everything I’ve ever wanted is just a little south & just a little west of wherever I happen to be at the time.

Herbie Hancock – I Thought It Was You

When I first heard ‘I Thought It Was You”, it was like meeting the great great grandfather of your closest friend…
I could just hear so clearly in this song, the perfect origins of so many others, so many that I love, artists like CHIC, DAFT PUNK, CHILDISH GAMBINO, THE STROKES. BOWIE, JUSTICE, METRONOMY, TAME IMPALA. Music is such a deeply interwoven lineage of ideas & sounds, it can be so hard to tell what came from where, & in the end it doesn’t always matter. But every so often you happen to find that one undeniable source. In that moment you just hear it, it’s right there to the left & to the right, in stereo, everything you’ve ever loved about music.

Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

I have an uncle that I never met, he died very young, 23 or 24yrs old, his heart ran too fast, & his life ran with it. I was once told that he loved Elton John, & so I listened to everything I could find… from then on all that music would simply belong to the thought of this stranger.

The idea of this person I never got the chance to know all twisted up in Tiny Dancer, Benny & The Jets, & especially “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” …

Every time I hear it, I feel like it’s some message from the other side, telling me to walk forward a few steps into some parallel world, where everything is bright and vivid, & that he’s just there waiting to strike up a conversation & to tell me about his world.