Joshua Burnside

Born in Lisbane, Northern Ireland, and based in Belfast, Joshua Burnside has developed since the early 2010s a folk songwriting approach that blends indie folk, folktronica and indie rock with elements of Irish and Scottish traditions, along with touches of Americana, sound collage and restrained electronics. After the EPs The Winding Straits (2012) and If You’re Goin’ That Way (2013), he released Ephrata in 2017, a debut album partly written in Colombia that also features rhythms influenced by cumbia. The record marked a turning point in his career and won the Northern Ireland Music Prize that year. Burnside followed with the EP All Round the Light Said (2018) and the albums Wear Bluebells in Your Hat If You’re Goin’ That Way (2019), Into the Depths of Hell (2020), Higher Places (2021) and Teeth of Time (2025). His work alternates between acoustic ballads, hazier textures and compositions with a more pronounced rhythmic drive. On stage, Joshua Burnside has appeared at festivals such as The Great Escape, Other Voices, Reeperbahn and South by Southwest, and has collaborated with Northern Irish artists like Laura Quirke, with whom he released the EP In the Half-Light in 2021.