Three Sisters of Joseph Step Up to Rise With The Sun

After trying to make a name for themselves for nearly a decade, three splendid sisters who sparkle as an indie pop-folk trio now known simply as Joseph may be changing their ways these days. But not because they face an identity crisis.

The group originally hails from the outskirts of Portland, Oregon, and they're seemingly in perfect harmony on stage and in the studio. Siblings Natalie, Meegan and Allison Closner, all in their 30s, are working to ensure that nothing threatens their all-for-one existence.

So here comes The Sun, the band’s fourth full-length studio album, bringing spectacular proof that Joseph remains a singular sensation despite a series of tests that jeopardized the trinity’s unity, lucidity and sanity. The 10-track team effort — to be released Friday, April 28 (on ATO Records) — includes contributions from four producers/musicians in a couple of studios, along with 13 songwriters (counting the three Closners themselves) and six additional session players. With luscious harmonies, poppy tunes and sweeping sounds, The Sun is the remedy to any post-pandemic hangover.

The trio's major tour opened at London’s Bush Hall on April 24. Then, for the first time ever, the threesome played Royal Albert Hall, on April 26, doing double duty as opening act and backup singers for headliner James Bay. Their North America headlining schedule begins April 28 at the Fillmore in San Francisco and includes a stop at the Echo Lounge & Music Hall in Dallas on May 5.

Making their first album since releasing Good Luck, Kid in September 2019 was “quite difficult, just coming out of a worldwide pandemic,” says Natalie Closner, Joseph’s guiding light who’s four years older than 31-year-old twins Meegan and Allison. “It took a lot of thought trying to decide first of all what songs belonged together, that we’d written, and what we wanted to say coming out of that time. It was a big process figuring out how to make it, and this one was a chiseler. It took time to put together, but we’re so proud of it."

At different locales, she and Meegan joined a Zoom interview with the Observer last week (Allison, originally scheduled to participate, was “dealing with something last minute,” a publicist noted). Though she's already outgoing, Natalie sounded especially perky about her move to Los Angeles in January, saying, “We have made so many great friends in music, and it just feels like a really good community. And you can’t beat the sunshine.”
The twins live separately in the eastern Oregon town that inspired the trio’s name — Joseph, about a 5 1/2-hour drive from the home of their parents (Scott and Lisa, who also have one son, Ryan) outside Portland. The couple reared the children in Estacada, Oregon.

Despite being far apart geographically, the sisters of Joseph seem tighter than ever after one monumental meeting of the minds. While facing some major issues along the way — one incident nearly broke up the band — Natalie and Meegan were open when asked to share the best and worst of times for Joseph, the trio formerly known as Dearborn.

“One of the challenges of singing as a trio is you really have to be attuned to each other,” Meegan says. “You can’t just be a one-man show. If you’re off pitch, you might throw the whole song off.”

Yet, certain pluses outweigh the minuses.

“It’s so fun, and we really love each other a lot and get along really well,” she adds about this band of sisters, all of whom sought therapy during the pandemic. “I think the best [of times] is just that we get to do it together. … When you are in sync, both emotionally and with singing, you can’t beat it.”

The album's bookends are two of Natalie’s three songs, with assists by “dear friends.” Karli Fairbanks co-wrote opener “Waves Crash,” a genuine gem, and longtime Joseph collaborator Andrew Stonestreet helped pen “Love Is Flowing.” That gentle closer begins with meditative words Natalie paraphrased from Kendra Bloom, her “amazing somatic therapist.”

“Waves Crash” is “really the thesis statement of all of my therapy,” Natalie says with a laugh. “Which is just: How do I find and exist peacefully in my goodness just being there? It’s not earned. It’s not something that’s based on my achievements. … Just being is enough. And I’m good.”

Though the remaining seven tunes pair Joseph with a mix of co-writers, Meegan and Allison take charge on several of them. Of the glorious title track that co-writer Trent Dabbs started with a melody, Meegan said, “You write something out of a feeling. Then every time you sing it, you re-say it to yourself. I think that is definitely my biggest moment of that on the album. It’s really powerful.”

Regarding the lively “Nervous System,” Allison wrote in a track-by-track description: “I’ve struggled with a lot of anxiety over the years, at times a constant inner storm, and it’s been easy to look outside myself to feel safe and secure. I’ve fought to find my inner peace, and … I’ve found that so much of the time I already have what it takes to calm my nervous system.”

With Joseph’s longtime desire to work with “generous spirit” Tucker Martine, the Portland producer got the ball rolling at his Flora Recording and Playback studio, while Jessica Dobson and Joey Burns also lent their talents. And Christian “Leggy” Langdon, who produced Good Luck, Kid, ultimately returned. Besides bringing cohesion to the project by mixing the entire LP and producing Joseph’s singles at his LEGRoom Only Studios in Pasadena, California, he also served as engineer and multi-instrumentalist.

Meanwhile, the sisters became more hands-on, addressing all aspects during recording.

"It was really a process to find out sonically exactly what elements should be involved,” Natalie says.

That led to “making that hard decision to be like, ‘I think this needs something different.’ … That’s really difficult to take all the effort that everyone had put in and say, ‘We’re gonna go over here and try something else because we think that there’s even more to be found with this song.’”

Regarding Joseph’s career, Natalie observed that, “It’s been a journey because it’s been 10 years and there’s so much growth, that it’s hard to synthesize. … We’ve all stepped into more of who we are as individuals and been able to support each other becoming better versions of ourselves and newer versions of ourselves. I really think this album tells that story a lot.”

While their storyline includes instant gratification (self-releasing debut album Native Dreamer Kin in 2014, signing with ATO in September 2015, national TV debut in 2016 on The Tonight Show, festival appearances from Coachella to Glastonbury), there were moments of personal grief: Meegan’s romantic relationship woes, Allison’s anxiety struggles, Natalie’s recent divorce. Led astray by a triple effect of disruptions, they were careening toward a band breakup in 2019.

With trouble — and tension — brewing among the sisters around the time Good Luck, Kid was released, one careless move brought their problems to what Natalie called “a boiling point” on the evening after a Seattle show.

“We were just kind of putting one foot in front of the next and not really doing a lot of checking in about how much we were working and how tiring it really was," says Natalie. "I think there was just a level of burnout that had pushed us all apart. And at the time, we weren’t as good at confronting issues.”

On one fateful night, their vehicle navigated a narrow road.

“I won’t name who, but someone was driving and knocked — it wasn’t really much of a car accident — a mirror off somebody’s [parked] car,” Natalie continues, before emphasizing, “We don’t argue, really. We don’t have a lot of big conflict. … It was just this outside force that sort of brought everything to the surface and caused some really important conversations to happen, to check in, and be like, ‘Are we still in this? Do we want to keep going? How can we take care of ourselves and each other better?’ It was just a major turning point.”
Soon they'd also be dealing with internal strife and the pandemic, and the Closner sisters finally started answering those questions. Exiting Interstate 84 somewhere around Biggs Junction, they stopped in a parking lot next to an eatery they often frequented for shakes and fries. With Joseph’s existence hanging in the balance, some significant decisions were made to order instead.

“It was really the first time we gave ourselves the option of genuinely deciding to be in the band or not,” says Meegan, recalling another close call shortly after getting started when Allison considered picking college in Colorado over music with Joseph. “We also took away the [edict that] ‘You’re in this forever and you can’t get out, and we can never talk about it.’”

They settled on a record-by-record agreement.

“If we choose a whole album, then we have a commitment to each other to stay present throughout that cycle,” Meegan says. “For this cycle, we all were like, ‘Yep, I choose this for my life.’ We’ll see for the next one, but it’s a choice.”

With a new lease on Joseph’s life, Natalie, whose career began as a solo artist, and Meegan concur with a laugh that they’ll meet problems “head on” if issues persist.

“I really think being in a band with people is kind of like being married to them,” Meegan says. “You have a big commitment on so many levels to each other. You have to learn how to say the hard things even if it feels like it’s gonna totally mess things up. Because it’s so easy for resentment to build. …

“I think we have worked really hard to create the grooves of communication to each other, and have gone through a lot of therapy in the last couple years that has helped. I’m not saying it’s gonna be easy, but I think it’s gonna be easier now than it has been in the past.”