We Speak Music
Johnson & Finnemore Share New Album “Find A Love That Brings You Home”
There’s something really exciting about stumbling across an album like “Find A Love That Brings You Home” by Johnson & Finnemore. Set for release on August 29th through Gulf Coast Records, this collection of songs feels like discovering a well-worn leather jacket in a vintage shop that fits you perfectly.
The duo have managed to blend country, soul, and rock influences without making it sound forced or calculated. Johnson’s work on pedal steel, dobro, and guitar creates this gorgeous foundation that never overpowers but always supports. Meanwhile, Finnemore’s songwriting has this honest, lived-in quality that makes you believe every word he sings.
The album bounces between moods beautifully. You’ll find yourself swaying to lush country waltzes one moment, then getting swept up in blues-heavy anthems the next. There’s even these wonderful 70s Laurel Canyon moments that transport you to sun-soaked afternoons in the hills. It’s the kind of record that reveals new layers each time you listen.
The guest musicians they’ve brought in add real depth without cluttering the sound. Hannah Johnson’s vocals on “The Gun” create this compelling back-and-forth with Finnemore that gives me chills. And having legends like Julian Littman and Charlie Dore (who’ve worked with everyone from Gerry Rafferty to George Harrison) lend their voices speaks volumes about the respect these songs command.
I’ve had early access to the singles, and “Babybird” completely won me over. It’s this enchanting waltz that focuses on love found rather than love lost, which feels refreshing in a genre that sometimes wallows in heartbreak. Johnson’s pedal steel work here is simply gorgeous, weaving through fiddle and mandolin in ways that make your heart ache in the best possible way.
“Ride High” hits different entirely. There’s this JJ Cale-influenced groove that just makes you move, with James Everhart’s wah guitar adding this thick, syrupy texture. Finnemore’s lyrics here show real strength and defiance, standing up for the people who matter when they need it most.
This feels like the start of something important. Johnson & Finnemore have created a debut that doesn’t sound like a debut at all. It sounds like two musicians who’ve found their voice and aren’t afraid to use it. “Find A Love That Brings You Home” does exactly what the title promises and it brings you somewhere warm and familiar, even if you’ve never been there before.
You can pre-order the album here.
Michele Ducci has unveiled the second single, ‘Woman Like You’, from his forthcoming album and animated film ‘Snail in the Clouds’.
‘Woman Like You’ pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandoleisi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band. Shane Kennedy (Girl in the Year Above) joins in on guitar. Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) recorded and produced the track at his 4am Studios in London.
The album and film tell the story of a planet called ‘Snail’, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.
The video for the single, created and animated by Ducci and Mandoleisi, delves further into the realm of planet ‘Snail’:
Says Ducci, “The ark of melodies, after various attempts, finally starts to work and fly in the planet Snail, while the shady Doc. Sub. and Agostos, with their platoon of soldiers made of foggy smoke, spy the miracle, planning to steal the ark for their evil and tyrannical purposes.”
About the track, Michele says, “I wrote this song for my love Letizia. Love seen from the mind is the sound we make. Sound is the love of matter.
We used a Technics synthesizer organ from a flea market. I tried to find a mood that was right for the song and I started using the bass of the pedal board together with the synth and the drums, and it was magical to hear the song reveal itself all coming from a single instrument. Leti was singing with me and we recorded everything live in one shot. Then we made Shane do the guitar flight, as if he came out of the window. The idea was to maintain disproportions, guitar thrust and synth drum thinness a la Haroumi Hosono, so as to create an estrangement, but naturally: it’s about how I listen, with close up something that captures me in its nuance as element of a larger orchestra somewhere. I’m glad we decided in the studio with Simon to use the layers of arrangement as the close-ups in the cinema; they look like strange enlargements that perch on parts of a mutated orchestra. I’m happy to come back with this love song at a time when everything seems to opt, even my labor in managing the flows of selfishness that have poured out on me while doing this album, for the sound of war. I’m here happy to be able to say that the sound of love always wins as did for me. Snail in the clouds is one of the most important works in my life and I am glad to start from pure love for this album that is my son.”
The album and full-length film will be released on the 5th of June on Monotreme Records.
Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, ‘The Great Book of Nature’, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts Film Festival.
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