HM Johnsen is an indie rock singer-songwriter from Norway who in recent years has embarked on an incredible personal musical journey: from blues, to rock to his ‘epiphany’ of moving into experimental indie rock. Although still in his early 20’s, he is already an accomplished guitarist, singer, writer and composer who has recorded his music and played concerts all over the world. The culmination of this musical journey is embodied in his latest release, the E.P ‘Serenity’, released on 27th November 2020.

For HM Johnsen growing up, the guitar was his closest friend and music was his first love. 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. By 2017 he had 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. A fantastic opportunity - but for this young artist things were increasingly speeding out of his control.

At the end of 2018 he and his band were completely exhausted at the never-ending rounds of gigging, travelling and having to work at their day jobs too. It was all too much, too soon. Not only that, Johnsen felt like his musical direction was still evolving and he wanted to explore new areas of music. It was then he had his fateful ‘epiphany’. He dropped everything and moved to Berlin for over a month with his girlfriend (now wife) to pursue a new artistic direction. This changed everything, Berlin being the perfect ‘muse’ for his musical exploration! He says “I have never ever been so musically productive and inspired in my life I wrote the whole E.P. in 2 weeks! I was so inspired by the city, the culture, the free-spirit people in Berlin… just everything was inspiring.” When he got home, Johnsen was lucky to get some amazing musicians on board with his new sound: Idar Rolland: Drums, Judah John Kubendran: Bass, Ole Markus Bråthen: Keys and Eirik Grønner: Producer. Two singles followed in 2019 – 'Synergy' and 'Walk This Road' and two in 2020 'Serenity'– the title track to the E.P - and 'Stay Within Range'.

Now he is delighted to bring to the world the ‘Serenity’ E.P. and he feels it has changed him, not only as a musician, but also personally. He says “I feel that I have gained a lot of personality and experience writing and living out the process of this E.P.” The culmination of his musical journey is full of ambient guitars and pianos mixed together, underscored with strong lyrics and powerful catchy choruses: a real brew of rich musical flavours, as he says himself: “The inspiration for this E.P. is from my generalised view on our modern world and comprises of a modern form of Jazz and Rock and underneath, a main genre of pop.” HM Johnsen now confidently knows who he is and the exciting musical direction in which he is heading.