If there's one thing I've learned from Nashville the TV show it's that the best musical collaborations can birth the most beautiful love stories.
Johnnyswim is the real life version of boy (Abner Ramirez) meets girl (Amanda Sudano) in Nashville Tennessee, who got together to collaborate back in 2005. They made beautiful music together, and ended up in love.
Their heady mix of American folk-pop, with soul and blues influences, comes together to make a sound that Callie Khouri would be proud of. They sing of summertime romances, being each other's lighthouse, getting it right on the first try, lonely nights in Georgia and saying goodnight. It's personal, touching and pleasantly hazy, like a soft, warm comfort blanket of sound.
Dipping in and out of different genres, there are beautiful honeydew melodies set to zinging up-tempo guitar in "Hummingbird", killer harmonies that give you goosebumps and feisty chorus repears in "Villains". There's a good amount of acoustic guitar, with rolling riffs that sound like sunrise in "Drunks". "Touching Heaven" is a lilting piano ballad, that houses shaking tambourines and a full gospel choir singing the refrain "You're my hallelujah" alongside heartmelting vocals featuring their baby son Joaquin at the end of the track. There's even a soft jazzy cover of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game, which is deeply pleasing in its vocal range, but "Let It Matter", is a rolling trip, and a personal favourite.
The duo's songwriting is sophisticated and mature, developed independently and never trying to fit a mould, whether commercial or niche. They've done good to stick to their own truth – these song hooks will stick around long after the track fades and you'll find yourself humming along to powerful, uplifting choruses and hitting repeat after the first listen.