HM Johnsen is an experimental Indie/Rock Artist from Norway– a singer-songwriter who embraces many styles whilst still managing to stay true to himself and his musical and lyrical vision. Still in his early twenties he is already an accomplished guitarist, singer, writer and composer who has travelled far and wide to record music and has toured extensively. On September 4th 2020 he releases his latest single ‘Stay Within Range’ the second track to be taken from his forthcoming E.P. ‘Serenity’

HM Johnsen grew up with the guitar as his closest friend: playing music has been his all-consuming passion. As a kid he delighted in exploring all genres of music– first falling in love with rock and metal before moving into a more Blues & Rock style. Fast forward to 2017 - he released his debut Blues Rock album Chased - an album entirely funded by his own small local community in Western Norway and mastered in the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London UK. It was such a fantastic coup for a young artist, the national broadcaster of Norway decided to cover his journey and broadcast the story of this young and talented musician, following his dream. Then things got a little crazy – Johnsen was very quickly signed up with a Blues/ Rock management company. In 2018 he won the title “Norwegian Blues Union Artist” of the year- a title which brought with it over 50 concerts in both Norway, Germany and America. An enormous opportunity but for this young artist things were speeding out of control.

At the end of 2018 it had all started to feel very rushed: he (and his band) were exhausted at the constant rounds of gigging, travelling and working a day job too. Something had to give. Moreover, Johnsen felt like his musical direction was still evolving and there were other musical areas he wanted to experiment in. It was then he made a momentous decision- one that would change his life once again. Dropping everything, he moved to Berlin for over a month with his fiancee to pursue this new artistic direction. And Berlin did not let him down- it provided the perfect incubator for his creativity. He says “I have never ever been so musically productive and inspired in my life I wrote the whole EP in 2 weeks! I was so inspired by the city, the culture, the free-spirit people in Berlin… just everything was inspiring.” Johnsen had found his ‘muse’: Two singles followed in 2019 – Synergy and -Walk This Road and one in 2020 Serenity– the title track to the forthcoming E.P.

Musically, the latest single ‘Stay Within Range’ is a mixture between a pop tune and a more ambient rock arena sound with guitars, bright vocals and synths with a hint of EDM all coming together. Thematically it is about fears of suddenly and inexplicably losing someone important. As HM says: “’Stay Within Range’ is a song about a dream I had. I dreamt that someone who is very close to me vanished away, while I was floating away in my own world/head. I wrote the song the day after, as a sort of reminder to always give that person all my attention and that I should never take her for granted.”