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Nick Johnston - Wide Eyes In the Dark


Release date: 19 Apr 2019

Nick Johnston
 
I first heard of Nick Johnston from a suggested YouTube video of his entire "Remarkably Human" album. The artwork image stood out to me and I was in the mood for new music and I left it on in the background. I ended up listening to it few times through and then going and buying his entire 4 CD biography, a ticket to see him live and the guitar tab for the RH album. Quite simply, I was hooked. As a preface to talking about the new album I'll briefly go over the development as I see it from the previous 4. The first to albums are a wide spread of styles where Nick is still exploring and developing his sound. By the third album 'Atomic Mind' the sound is more refined but still has the odd wild track. It is only at album number 4 where 'Remarkably Human' has a continuous theme and what is now a style that you can distinguish quite clearly as Nick Johnston. You can always tell his playing on the previous albums but now the mood is set.

Wide Eyes In The Dark 

Wide eyes picks up where Remarkably Human left off. The production is very tidy and polished. It continues the prominent piano presence, mysterious sounding jazz chords with the focus squarely on the composition of the mood rather than being flash on the lead playing. Don't get me wrong there are flourishes of some ridiculously technical guitar playing that appear when you don't expect it. Enough to remind you that Nick is an extremely good shredder but never comes anywhere near the point of showing off. Always classy. If you want to hear him ripping up aimlessly then I would recommend his Instagram page as he posts his practices fairly regularly and it's enough to make even the more accomplished guitar player sick with jealousy (maybe just me?). Wide eyes in the dark is a very tasteful affair with quite a few fairly long progressive tracks which gives a lot of room the laid back ambient feel of the album. If you are a fan of irregular time signatures then this may be more of an album for you than the predecessor.

Is it any good?

That depends on what you're after from your guitar music. If you want flash shred guitar heroes then this may not be for you even though there are moments of that on the album. If you want finely crafted music more in line with a film score featuring guitar than a 'guitar' album then it's perfect. Nick is now presenting something that is unique to him so I recommend it anyone who has never heard his sound before if only to hear something new.





Hear it all here on his YouTube channel:


Or here on Spotify:



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