Calvin Johnson

This album features ten new songs from Calvin Johnson, compiled on his second album as a solo artist. Calvin's first album, What Was Me (KLP117) is a Spartan kalang of guitar and voice; Before the Dream Faded… is a collection of collaborations, with a slate of guest producers including Khaela Maricich (the Blow), Mirah, Johnny Jewel (Glass Candy) and Phil Elverum (The Microphones, Mount Eerie) livening things up the with their ideas about arrangements and textures. Other guest players, including Adam Forkner (Yume Bitsu, VERSION, White Rainbow), Jona Bechtolt (Y.A.C.H.T.), Warren Lee and Devin Welch (Chromatics, Shoplifting) add a psychic twist, dramatizing all that is unholy in the Olympia underground schematic.

Calvin Johnson is the founder of and the Dub Narcotic Studio in Olympia, Wash., where he has recorded such stalwarts as Mirah, Tender Forever, Yume Bitsu, the Gossip, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Old Time Relijun and Fitz of Depression. He has released numerous records with the bands Beat Happening, Dub Narcotic Sound System and the Halo Benders, and toured across the United States scads of times, and will continue to do so.

This album was recorded at the Dub Narcotic Studio, except "I Am Without", recorded by Johnny Jewel at his D/E/A/T/H D/I/S/C/O studio in Portland, Ore., and "Deliverance", recorded by Phil Elverum at Nowhere in Anacortes, Wash. 

The digital version of this album is available from Bandcamp

Press

"…you won't find anything missing here; the album is airtight end to end, harmonious, and sweet. Like sucking on a jawbreaker, layers of What Was Me keep revealing themselves to show a brighter, prettier shine." --Molly Simms, Bust

"In an industry overflowing with young punks trying to grab a bit of DIY credibility, none of them come close to Calvin Johnson, and obscure talent who has truly done it 'his way' every time." --Rev. Keith A. Gordon, Jersey Beat