"Josh Mease has put together one of the strongest debuts I've heard this year....Wilderness is beautifully crafted with some lovely melodies and harmonies. Mease has a warm and distinctive voice, and a real ear for arrangements that sound lush without becoming too cluttered. It's the kind of album I can fall in love with from the opening notes of the first track."

"In such work, arrangements are crucial, and Mease resists the temptation to add clutter. Even when the setting seems fancy, with clavinet and backing choirs, the recording is spare—he is confident in his songs."

"Heavily reverbed piano, guitar arpeggios, fluttering synths, walls of wordless backing vocals and jazz-inspired chord changes produce a heady brew....[D]ebuts this promising are rare"

"[T]he farther you wander into his new “Wilderness,” the more it feels like you’re leaving behind the known world and moving into some surreal facsimile of it."