JOHANNA WARREN SHARES "HERE TO TELL" VIDEO
NEW ALBUM GEMINI II OUT FEBRUARY 16
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Photo credit: Marlee Meghan Banta
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Johanna Warren shared the video for her new single "Here To Tell" today. The video depicts the Portland songwriter's lyrics, which she describes as "the story of an interdimensional being who visits a young man in his sleep and takes him on a journey through the history of life on Earth, bestowing him with wisdom to help save humanity."Uproxx, who premiered the clip, say, "In the clip, a wild cast of characters float in and out of a dream world that seems to be accessed Narnia-style through a magic mirror."
"Here To Tell" will appear on Johanna Warren's new album Gemini II, which is due out February 16 on her own Spirit House Records. NPR praised "Here To Tell" for "captur[ing] the spirit that animates much of Warren's music and philosophy - an enduring belief that we can be better, despite the hurt and despair we put each other and ourselves through." Stereogum named it their #1 Best Song of the Week, saying, "'Here To Tell' starts melancholic but winds up being transportive. Initially, it sounds haunting. But by the end, you feel cleansed."
Gemini II will be released on vinyl as a double LP with Warren's 2016 record Gemini I. The LP is available for pre-order here.
Johanna Warren - Gemini II
Spirit House - February 16
1. Hopelessness Has Done Nothing For Me
2. Say You Do
3. Here To Tell
4. Cause Or Effect
5. inreverse
6. Boundaries
7. Cleansed By Fire
8. Mine To Take
9. Was It Heaven
When asked what motivates her to make music, Johanna Warren responds immediately: "Music is vibration; it's a direct way to affect matter. A song is a way to journey into places of discord and then resolve back into harmony." The Portland songwriter/multi-
Last year, Warren also released Gemini I, the first of a pair of conceptually connected albums written and recorded in the throes of a rocky romantic relationship with another artist. "All the songs on both records are about a complicated three-year relationship with a Gemini man," she says. "It was very much a 'twin flame' situation. We were working with bright light and intense shadow." As a way to process this emotional chaos, Warren began to write in earnest as a form of self-therapy. Eschewing the more abstract lyricism of her earlier work, she began to create a suite of confessional songs about the blessing and the curse of romantic love.
The albums that resulted, Gemini I and Gemini II, are moody, bewitching records packed with layers of occult symbolism and personal mythology. Every song on Gemini I has a corresponding "twin" on II, linked by melodic motifs, lyrical content or production choices. Rather than the DIY recording setups that Warren and engineer/producer Bella Blasko had used previously, the Geminis were tracked at Dreamland studios in upstate New York. There, equipped with a sudden wealth of instruments and more sophisticated technology, Warren who arranges and play nearly everything on her records, felt free to explore. This spirit of experimentation is evident on the records. The songs retain the hushed warmth of previous releases Fates and numun, while expanding Warren's sonic landscape in all directions.
Last year, Warren also released Gemini I, the first of a pair of conceptually connected albums written and recorded in the throes of a rocky romantic relationship with another artist. "All the songs on both records are about a complicated three-year relationship with a Gemini man," she says. "It was very much a 'twin flame' situation. We were working with bright light and intense shadow." As a way to process this emotional chaos, Warren began to write in earnest as a form of self-therapy. Eschewing the more abstract lyricism of her earlier work, she began to create a suite of confessional songs about the blessing and the curse of romantic love.
The albums that resulted, Gemini I and Gemini II, are moody, bewitching records packed with layers of occult symbolism and personal mythology. Every song on Gemini I has a corresponding "twin" on II, linked by melodic motifs, lyrical content or production choices. Rather than the DIY recording setups that Warren and engineer/producer Bella Blasko had used previously, the Geminis were tracked at Dreamland studios in upstate New York. There, equipped with a sudden wealth of instruments and more sophisticated technology, Warren who arranges and play nearly everything on her records, felt free to explore. This spirit of experimentation is evident on the records. The songs retain the hushed warmth of previous releases Fates and numun, while expanding Warren's sonic landscape in all directions.
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