Sink into the sway of lo-fi indie folk with “Down the Aisle” by Johnny

Catch yourself swaying to the languid acoustic rockabilly riffs of “Down the Aisle”, released March 19 and the fourth track on Johnny‘s debut LP, Collecting Dinosaurs.

Though originally from Amsterdam, songwriter and guitarist Joost Abbel is finding his niche within the family of Americana folk under the moniker Johnny. Thoughtful cohesion is found throughout this humble ballad that offers a light touch of minimal instrumentation.

Johnny’s voice feels familiar as it’s hugged in a chorus of gentle harmonies. His words make him sound like a soulful lover, ready to embrace his partner for life. In fact, “Down the Aisle” was written as a wedding gift for Joost’s bandmates and friends Gertjan and Jacintha from Dutch indie act Juan Juan.

“The sky will turn blue when we walk down the aisle/ Life’s just too short, don’t get bored and don’t stop trying/ Come on, take my hand, before you know it, and we are flying,” he professes.

There are overlaps in Johnny and his band’s musical execution with other similarly themed acts like Rosanne Cash, Shakey Graves, and Phosphorescent. If you know these aforementioned creators then it’s likely you will find a homey familiarity to Johnny’s voice and lyrics that so easily roll along this composition.

There is much space for lo-fi indie folk lovers to appreciate this work.

Throughout this piece Johnny is accompanied by producer/guitarist Merlijn Verboom, drummer Gijs Anders, bass player Robert Koomen. The crew used homemade valve amps and a collection of ribbon mics from the ’50s to record this album on old school tape machines. For the finishing touches, Grammy-nominee Attie Bauw (Judas Priest, Scorpions) took on the mastering.

There are eleven songs of different varieties to be found on Collecting Dinosaurs. Stream “Down the Aisle” and the rest of the album below.

Anjali Rose Kumar

Anjali Rose Kumar is a musician, videographer, and creative freak based in Brooklyn, NYC. Anjali is learning to cope with a self-imposed quarantine in NYC’s second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic by spending her hours recording music in her bedroom, watching her unemployment leave her bank account, and embarking on a newly revived love of writing. In fact, when Anjali was 10 years old she was convinced she would live her life as a writer, however, she would often confuse her teachers by making up her own vocabulary and therefore buried the interest for 15 years. Cheers to the new years ahead of us. You can find out more about Anjali here.