Johanna Samuels - Excelsior!With a special knack for balancing bright pop melodies with a drifting sense of melancholy, LA based Johanna Samuels new album Excelsior! is a tender, honest document of the importance of companionship above all else. Named after Dylans Visions of Johanna, Samuels grew up on the classic songwriters of yesteryear (George Harrison, Tom Petty, Neil Young) and after a healthy dose of Elliott Smith and Jon Brion, has spent the best part of the last decade

In the past four months alone

the six old friends found time to work together in studios

rarefied and elegant

touring around the UK with Spacemen 3 and The Jesus & Mary Chain

reflecting the original 1981 sleeve artwork by legendary Crepuscule designer Benoit Hennebert

only the best collaborators would do for the follow-up to 2011's Gentle Spirit

The follow-up album Helplessness Blues was met with the same critical praise as its predecessor (MOJO ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

‰ÛÏI think our music is all about moods and feeling but hopefully it will get as weird as it possibly can

and early computerization had suddenly made it possible

“It felt like there was a darker edge to what we were coming up with and we wanted to make sure that carried through across the whole record

We turn the energy levels up with Ossie + PHRH's bouncy 'Ugly Observation'

the band was formed around the Munnings brothers (Ray