Some music is best enjoyed late at night, in clubs packed with rowdy concertgoers. Other music is perfect for summer hangs with friends in the park, conversation and laughter carrying over the outdoor soundtrack. And some music is meant for quiet evenings spent alone in your pajamas, winding down before bedtime. But morning music is absolutely a thing, too, and on his upcoming album, from nine mornings, airport people's tender-yet-propulsive neoclassical compositions feel just like that first sip of seven a.m. coffee. So on this beautiful Tuesday morning, I invite you sit down at your kitchen table with a warm beverage, because DC is so very pleased to premiere the album's third preview track, from morning no. 2.
In case you didn't catch it in the intro paragraph, airport people is in fact one person: Leon Todd Johnson. Now based in Indianapolis, Johnson traveled a lot when he was younger, accompanying his family across both the United States and Africa, where his grandfather fought against apartheid. Johnson's musical moniker is a nod to the many hours he spent watching travelers in airports - a pastime he found both curious and calming. Fittingly, today, his music as airport people elicits similar emotions. Each of the pieces found on Johnson's upcoming album are expansions upon different morning melodies he recorded while living through a number of major personal transitions. He selected nine of his favorites snippets, and then developed these piano-based ideas into fuller pieces, layered with violin, bass, guitar, drums, field recordings, and manipulated samples. The result is a warm album, and as its name suggests, it shines with morning's bright glow.
Single artwork, provided by label.
There are so many highlights across airport people's debut, but from morning no. 2 stands out. Is that a rain sample opening the track? A pretty typical morning sound for us Oregonians. But just a few seconds in, Johnson's piano melody enters for a solo round before drums and strings bubble up in the second arc. Harp and bells add even more texture before all accompaniment drops away, leaving only piano and rain in the final moments. It's a beautiful four-minute unfolding, so hear from morning no. 2 for yourself below.
Be sure to pre-order airport people's album before it's released on August 5th through Whited Sepulchre Records. Find that link here.