Emptyself - Emptyself (2005) / Progressive, Alternative Rock, Trip-Hop, New Zeland

Emptyself is Eric Johanson, the formerly New Orleans-based artist/producer now a New Zealand resident living in Auckland. Emptyself's hauntingly beautiful music features a mix of lush guitars, trip-hop and industrial beats, and intelligent lyrics.

In May of 2005, Eric released the self-titled debut Emptyself album through his own label, Genome Records. Johanson's darkly delicate acoustic guitar playing and smooth vocals serve as the centerpiece, atop a bed of thumping electronic beats, deep bass and dream-like soundscapes. Having been described by critics as "the softer side of rock, but manageable for even the heaviest of metalheads," this album acheives an emotional intensity more often through restraint than release, with a deep contemplative quality.

With songs that express the search for beauty in a world of tragedy, the album manages to be intensly personal, political, and philosophical, while remaining vulnerably honest throughout. While songs like "None Except You", "The Open Landscape", and "The Way to Crash" deal with personal relationship issues in a uniquely reflective way, songs like "Phantoms in the Sky" and "Liberated" show Johanson to be an outspoken critic of America's foreign policy and it's supporters at home.

Three months after the album's release, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, putting 80 per cent of the city underwater, including Eric's home and studio. Forced to start over, Eric decided to leave the states and move to a country with which he'd fallen in love, New Zealand. Eric now lives on the fringes of the Waitakere Ranges and is working on a new Emptyself album.