The imaginative solo artist Damien Johnson delivers a blistering 10-track slice of grinding, industrial alt-rock, in Girl.
With a collection of emotionally raw songs, electronic artist, Damien Johnson, presents Girl — a project that moves the listeners with its unique lyricism and tonal depth.
The Ipswich-based artist’s third album is rich with a revolutionary rumble. Each track is saturated with bone-crushing electronic bass, almost as if preparing for a battle.
The anarchic 10-tracker pushes the listener towards the unknown. With a spirit of darkness, the artist embraces the alternative-electro rock genre, not showing any fear in his self-produced project, mixed by Nathan Gold and mastered by Matthew Gray.
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The album begins as it is named, Power (featuring Paulina), screeching through the veins, until the listener is hit with the chaotic and jarring rumbles of Love Anarchy. The electric synths blend with Johnson’s vocals — “I’m a monkey in my own circus”. The song lingers with the echo of: “never gonna give up/never gonna give up”, a mantra involuntarily moving the body until the chorus explodes in colourful textures.
The song is followed by Your Woman, a cover of the White Town classic, but offered up in a completely new context. The track is accompanied by a confronting music video, addressing the challenges of transphobic attitudes within the dating world. The vulnerably seeps through each jarring beat like the removal of a mask.
Johnson shakes the stem of Girl with a strangely moving track Cello In A Fighter’s Hand. The psychedelic flickering of the synth feels almost nostalgic, blending with Johnson’s hard-hitting vocals: “bare knuckles on the tips of my fingers/my God how it lingers”.
From the rapping in Going Back, to the disco-funk rhythm in Moves To Make You Groove (featuring Birdie Belgium), Johnson proves time and time again that Girl is the unleashing of his limitless imagination. Growing up as an outsider, Johnson embraces the uniqueness of his style through tunes like The Valley, a shining gem in the album with its jazz inflections.
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Melbourne Afternoons, is the sunset of Girl; a sombre yet hopeful tune with its harmonious hymn; “are you gonna keep on holdin’ on?”.
It cannot be disputed that Johnson is a musically diverse and unique artist, delivering Girl on a silver platter of alternative electronics. If you are lucky enough to be in Brisbane on May 13, catch the Album Launch at Lefty’s Music Hall.
Dive into Johnson’s world with Girl below:
