Joshua Castro’s music lives somewhere between raw expression and quiet reflection, blending psychedelic and grunge textures with Andean roots. Through his project Vitamina, he writes songs that feel less like performance and more like something lived through and returned to.
“All the songs are kind of messages that I received that I needed to hear,” he says. “If I say this over and over again, it’ll burn it into me.”
After moving from New Jersey to Ecuador nearly two decades ago, Joshua stepped away from making music before finding his way back through ceremony spaces. That shift changed not only how he writes, but why. His earlier work leaned toward protest and intensity, but over time, something softened. “It just made me want to focus more on the solutions,” he reflects.
Now based in Pululahua, living off-grid in a home he built inside a volcanic crater, much of his recent music has come from solitude. “This last album came a lot from being alone out here in the mountains.” Songs often begin simply, before opening into collaboration with others in the Gardenhouse community.
At its core, his work is guided by a commitment to honesty over expectation. “I try not to make the music too much with the intention of how it’s gonna affect others… I try to be really true.” What remains is music that carries both weight and openness, grounded in his own process, but available to anyone who finds themselves in it.
