Opening up
Kimbra puts all her ‘feelings on the table’ on new album
Kimbra Lee Johnson was able to get three days off in Myrtle Beach, S.C. during her current tour.
“It’s very unheard-of,” she quips about getting time off. “I took a little rest and relaxation at a camping grounds.”
Johnson is known in music as simply Kimbra. She wrapped up a couple shows opening for Beck and then is supporting Odesza on tour.
“I had a lot of fun with them,” she says. “People seem to dig the new music. It’s always better to tour with new music behind you.”
Johnson burst onto the music scene in 2011, when she was featured on Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know.”
The single won two Grammy Awards and hit No. 1 in more than 15 countries.
Despite being thrust into the spotlight, Johnson remained humble and calm about it all.
At the time, she was busy touring in support of her solo debut, “Vows.”
“To be honest, I was so busy at the time,” she says. “It took other people to tell me that the song was big. I was so distracted. … But I just tried to always stay focused on the task at hand. I didn’t sit and dwell on the achievements. It helped me stabilize my music career.”
Now 28, the New Zealand singer is back with a new album, “Primal Heart,” released on April 20.
It his her first album in four years — “The Golden Echo” was released in 2014.
Johnson took a step back for “Primal Heart” and did the album her own way.
With her previous albums, she holed up in a studio and made the music.
This time around, she built a home studio to write the record.
The process began in earnest in 2016, and she spent six months working with John Congleton, who served as executive producer.
“I had hundreds of demos, and we were left with 18,” she says. “We really had to make some tough decisions to get the album down to 12 tracks. Hopefully, the others will get to see the light of day.”
Johnson also took two trips to Ethiopia, which helped her build the confidence to open up more in her writing.
“On this album, I was more open more than ever,” she says. “I’m putting all my feelings on the table for people. If you’re going to title your record ‘Primal Heart,’ there better be a lot of introspection and the experience of being a human being.”