Johanna Samuels announces Sam Evian-produced debut album with lead single "Nature's Way"

"Nature's Way" is Samuels' first outing since last year's "High Tide For One", which will also feature on Excelsior!.

Samuels' debut album title is inspired by the signature Samuels' grandfather used before he passed away last December. Samuels says, "He was a very important person to me and he helped raise me. He signed all of his letters and emails 'Excelsior!', including the exclamation point. It means 'ever upward' and that’s what I wish for everyone: to grow from listening with more empathy and from hearing each other out. I hope this record makes people want to be gentler with each other and themselves."

Excelsior! was recorded in the middle of winter at a small cabin in West Shokan in NY State with her band and producer Sam Evian. The album was largely recorded to tape and features contributions from Courtney Marie Andrews, Hannah Cohen, Lomelda’s Hannah Read, A.O. Gerber, Louise Florence and Olivia Kaplan. Samuels says, "I made the record mostly with men and that's a space I find myself in constantly in music. So it was a very important and special part of the record to have these different womxn that held me up. I really looked up to all the womxn that sang on the record."

She adds of the album's narrative, "Before making this record, I was feeling the furthest from myself I ever had. I was trying to figure out the kind of life I want to live and the kind of person I actually want to be. There is a lot of cognitive dissonance. I want to be a good person, but also a musician. How does that work? I had never really asked myself those things."

Tracklist:

1. Sonny
2. Nature's Way
3. High Tide for One
4. All Is Fine
5. The Middle
6. Close to the Vest
7. Song for Sid
8. Julie
9. Less of You
10. Cathy