Canyon City Shares “Wish List” From ‘Circling The Sun’ EP, Out Dec 4
September 4, 2020 BY Nettwerk
Canyon City shares a new song, “Wish List,” from his upcoming EP and Nettwerk debut Circling The Sun, set for release December 4th. The modern folk artist and producer, whose real name is Paul Johnson, says of the strings-soaked song, “It’s a love letter, figuratively and literally… I think it’s funny how we sometimes make mental wish lists of what we hope to find in a person or a relationship, then once we’re actually in it, those preconceived notions can fade away and your wish list becomes a description of the person you’ve grown to love.”
Watch/Listen + Share “Wish List”:
Circling The Sun is a warm, inviting and sweetly cinematic EP primarily written and produced in household settings, save for a bit of recording at the local Library. Paul teamed back up with Nashville-based producer Zachary David who added his own homespun elements to the project. David, who is also a TV/film composer, used found objects (think couch kickdrums, t-shirt slapping snares and crumpled paper percussion) around the home when producing the EP, partially out of necessity due to Covid19. But the unorthodox arrangements only enhance the EP’s lived-in aesthetic.
Over the last five years, Canyon City’s self-released EPs and LPs frequented Spotify editorial playlists and won praise from media like NPR, Paste, American Songwriter and more. His combined streams on Spotify alone surpass 100 million, with an average of 1.3 million monthly listeners. It’s easy to see exactly why Johnson is a streaming giant. His songwriting—fusing conversational narratives with modern-folk textures in the vein of Gregory Alan Isakov, The Tallest Man on Earth, and Noah Gundersen—is rich in emotional detail.
Though Johnson may appear more settled than he ever has been—happily married, nurturing a burgeoning music career and newly relocated to Colorado—in many ways his endings only birth new beginnings and new questions about where all of this is even going. “What else is this life thing about?” Johnson muses. “How do I be a better version of myself? The EP is about feeling a little overwhelmed looking out at this.”
Stay tuned for more news from Canyon City.
