Song Premiere: Will Johnson, “Nervousness Fangs”

Will Johnson is a busy guy. He fronted the alt-country band Centro-Matic; he toured with Monsters of Folk; he collaborated with Jason Molina. All the while, he’s maintained a solo career, putting out his first solo album, Murder of Tides, in 2002.

Johnson just released his latest single, “Nervousness Fangs,” which we’re happy to premiere below. In addition to releasing this new tune, Johnson has another recently released song, the 2016 Record Store Day exclusive “Inclined,” currently eligible for Grammy voting.

“I set up a mic or two in the middle bathroom, maybe an amp in the hall, and tracked both of those songs to the Tascam 424,” Johnson says of writing “Nervousness Fangs.” “My kids use this cheap Yamaha synth in the garage to entertain themselves sometimes, and I borrowed it and wrote ‘Small Leads.’ There are some organ and string sounds in there that I like. [I’m] gravitating toward a lot of instrumental and ambient music in these last few years. As far as ‘Nervousness Fangs’ goes, I remember writing the guts of that chorus on a trail run.”

Listen to “Nervousness Fangs” below.