While You Were Slumbering

On While You Were Slumbering, Joseph reconciles the disparate creative worlds of his musical life, conjuring panoramic sounds from rare old ballads and snaking instrumentals. He seamlessly melds the regional and universal, yielding a shining, inventive blend of the familiar and new—a kind of Cosmic Appalachia.

Video directed and edited by Gabe Anderson/ Strange Bug. Character animation and watercolors by Larissa Wood

Video by Gabe Anderson//Strange Bug. Additional editing by Kethan Fadale. Watercolor assets by Larissa Wood

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"Joseph Decosimo is like an astute jazz artist, with his perspective substantiated by a fundamental sense of melodic direction and delicate purpose. A musical acumen to set him wild and free. He knows melody like nobody else and that means that he can go anywhere from here, and I imagine that he will."
-Jake Xerxes Fussell

"While You Were Slumbering’ is a record which displays a deep affection for traditional music while placing it at the heart of a living process. For those familiar with Decosimo only as part of MC Taylor’s supporting cast on Hiss Golden Messenger records this is well worth checking out."
- Americana UK

"You can feel the exultation and veneration informing Decosimo’s trained folklorist methods. You can hear joy, anguish, satisfaction, and sorrow—all the same emotions braided into these songs’ old-time roots."
-Indy Week

Album Performance Credits

• Banjo, Fiddle, Guitar, Pump Organ, Vocals - Joseph Decosimo

• Pump Organ, Hardanger d’Amore - Cleek Schrey

• Vocals, fiddle - Stephanie Coleman

• Percussion - Matthew O’Connell

• Vocals, Pump Organ - Joe O’Connell

• Vocals, Banjo - Alice Gerrard

• Bass Clarinet - Alec Spiegelman

Album Production Credits

• Produced by Joseph Decosimo

• Recorded at homes in Durham, Raleigh, and Brooklyn, Alice’s backyard and kitchen in Durham,  and in a studio at Princeton University

• Engineered by Joseph Decosimo

• Mixed by Alec Spiegelman

• Mastered by Mike Monseur 

• Art Direction & Design by Gabe Anderson

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