It's been a remarkable week for singer-songwriter Joshua Ostrander, better known by his artist name, Mondo Cozmo. Since Friday, Aug. 4, Mondo Cozmo released the debut album, Plastic Soul, performed at Lollapalooza and then traveled to the Twin Cities for a show at First Avenue's 7th Street Entry. Before that show, Mondo Cozmo visited The Current for a session hosted by Mac Wilson.

Not too long ago, Ostrander had left an earlier band and was working two landscaping jobs to make ends meet. "I was coming to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to be able to play out live again," he recall. "That broke my heart because it's my favorite thing."

But Ostrander never stopped writing music, and when he dropped the hit single, "Shine," his label representatives had a surprise for him: They wanted him to finish writing an album, and they wanted it in two weeks. "I'm good if I've got something on the rise and it's got to get done by [a certain] point," Ostrander says. "I just rented a house out in Joshua Tree, I took my dog and my computer, and I knocked it out of the park, man. I attacked the moment. I write a lot, so it wasn't like I was writing songs. I just went out there to finish them."

The resulting songs, Ostrander has learned, have filled many listeners with a sense of hope. "I just think that's so cool, because it wasn't written to be like that," he says. "That's the power of music."

And if music's power means Ostrander will be playing the song "Shine" at every show for the rest of his life, he's cool with that. "I've played songs when people don't want me to play them," he laughs, "so when people are psyched to hear a song? Yeah, I'm going to play that for the rest of my life."

Use the audio player above to hear the complete in-studio session with Mondo Cozmo.

Songs Performed

"Automatic"
"Plastic Soul"
"Shine"
All songs from Mondo Cozmo's debut album, Plastic Soul, released Aug. 4, 2017, on Republic Records.

Hosted by Mac Wilson
Produced by Derrick Stevens
Engineered by Corey Schreppel
Visuals by Nate Ryan
Web feature by Luke Taylor

Resources

Mondo Cozmo - official site

Gallery

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