Much of the material for Joseph’s new album, “The Sun,” draws on experiences with anxiety, self-doubt and romantic pitfalls, but the three sisters who make up the band say they also try to inspire joy for themselves and their listeners.
Their attitude comes across in the album’s songs, their videos and an interview ahead of their next Atlanta appearance on Tuesday, June 27, at the Variety Playhouse.
The last few years have been a whirlwind. Twins Meegan Closner and Allie Closner and older sister Natalie Closner channeled their response to challenging times into “The Sun,” the fourth album for Joseph that was released in the spring.
“Honestly it’s just the product of all of the work that we’ve done … and now we get to celebrate,” said Meegan, a vocalist.
The Oregon trio — named both for their family’s hometown and their grandfather — got more involved in production than they had previously, while also working with four co-producers.
“It was a process,” said guitarist and vocalist Natalie, calling in with her sisters from a tour stop in Columbus, Ohio. “It evolved as we were trying to do right by the songs. That definitely had moments of tension and having to say some hard things.”
The result? An impressive, cohesive effort that nods to Joseph’s folk background in places but, in its essence, is a scintillating, heartfelt pop record.
“I felt proud of us that we stuck to how we wanted the music to sound and took the long and winding road to get there,” Natalie said.
A case in point is the upbeat, anthemic “Fireworks,” the video for which features the sisters laughing, dancing and playing with sparklers. The video matches the euphoria that comes through in their soaring vocals. “That was such a fun song to write,” Natalie said.
“Fireworks” didn’t evolve as much as other tracks on the album did.
“That one actually has stayed pretty true to what happened when we wrote it,” said Allie, who sings lead on it. “I think the only thing that was tricky with that one was just knowing how to produce it. When it’s just us singing as a trio with an acoustic (guitar), it sounds pretty country.”
It’s the third single on the album, preceded by the title track and “Nervous System,” a piano- and percussion-driven song that serves as a hope-filled guide for dealing with anxiety, inspired by Allie’s own experiences.
While most of “The Sun” has layers of instruments and vocals in a well-produced package, one song in particular is more of a nod to the band’s folk background.
“Three More Hours” is beautifully spare. The sisters didn’t experiment with adding anything beyond Natalie’s acoustic guitar and their three voices.
“It’s always kind of nice having at least one song that’s hardly touched on the record. That one was that for this record,” Allie said. It didn’t take long to nail the sound they wanted, either.
“That was the second take, and it’s just a live take,” Natalie said.
Joseph’s first album, “Native Dreamer Kin,” was self-released in 2014. The trio has worked with ATO Records since then, beginning with 2016′s “I’m Alone, You’re Not,” which featured radio hit and crowd favorite “White Flag.”
Touring cycles for the albums have led the sisters to some of the world’s biggest festivals, from the Newport Folk Festival to Coachella to Glastonbury. It was at the latter that Natalie was persuaded to try Marmite, the British yeast extract spread similar to Vegemite. (She’s not a fan.)
More recently, the band joined a bill with James Bay at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall. “It was amazing. It was so, so beautiful,” Meegan said.
The Variety Playhouse show comes near the end of Joseph’s current tour, and all three sisters are ecstatic about the experience so far.
“Our audience is really showing up,” Natalie said. “Just really into it, singing along. It’s so amazing. We feel like they’re really with us.”
The sisters say they’ve created a perfect set list for this run of performances. “We’re going with it because it feels so awesome every single show,” Allie said.
Natalie describes the show as “incredibly energetic.”
“I think we’re guided by a general principle of ‘give people what they want’ and then have a lot of really fun surprises within that,” she said.
Joseph will bring their attitude and their new batch of life-affirming pop gems to Atlanta. “For now we’re soaking up the celebration of this one,” Natalie said. “It’s such a blast.”
PERFORMANCE PREVIEW
Joseph
8 p.m. Tuesday, June 27. $29-49. Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave. NE, Atlanta. 404-524-7354, variety-playhouse.com.
