You can’t climb a mountain without starting at the bottom. Johnny Solomon, the singer-songwriter of Minneapolis-based Communist Daughter, gave up on music a few years ago. After struggling with addiction and even spending time in jail, Johnny left his old band, Friends Like These, and moved to a small town in Wisconsin. The new surroundings didn’t fix the problems, and he began to write and record songs as if they would be his last. During this time he met a young singer named Molly Moore and she promised to work with him if he cleaned up. They released a critically acclaimed album in 2010, Soundtrack To The End, and then Johnny checked himself into rehab. Now he is sober, engaged to Molly and with the help of his bandmates is ready to give the world a brilliant new EP, Lions & Lambs, out July 10th via Grain Belt Records.
We shared the video for “Speed of Sound” and now we’re excited to introduce you to the first track on the EP. “Ghosts” is honest songwriting at its best. From the opening line until the last refrain, you will hang on every word. Johnny is a storyteller and we all want to sit around the campfire and hear what he has to say. The band may tread a musical path similar to The Shins, Fleet Foxes or Wilco, but they bring a heightened emotionality that sets them apart. Johnny had this to say about “Ghosts”:
“I wrote Ghosts while I was holed up over the winter in treatment in rural Minnesota. It snowed constantly. It was the definition of solitude. Just me and my thoughts. The song’s about saying goodbye to the life I thought I had to live. It’s about not letting the past own you. But its not about winning that struggle, its about beginning that struggle. Its all the dark nights in snow storms when your headlights are hitting snow flakes and making you dizzy. Oh, and its also just a song by a band in Minnesota.”
This is a band you will be hearing more about as the year progresses. Stream “Ghosts” below and pre-order Lions & Lambs here.
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