The Social Animals, Johnston's First Album In Nine Years, Comes February 25 On Single Lock Records
Duquette Johnston has returned with "To My Daughters," the latest offering from his first new album in nearly a decade The Social Animals (February 25 / Single Lock Records). Written during an emotionally and spiritually trying period for Duquette as he began to pick up the pieces while battling through adversity, "To My Daughters" wrestles with (as he puts it) "how to be in this world without necessarily being of this world, and how to leave a better world for your kids." Conceived for a close friend of Duquette's who was going through similar struggles, "To My Daughters" explores a particularly poignant notion: when you don't feel like you belong somewhere, how do you still find the resolve to stick around and make positive change.
Listen to "To My Daughters" HERE
Pre-order The Social Animals (out February 25) via Single Lock Records: https://link.singlelock.com/duquette
On "To My Daughters," like on each of The Social Animals' eleven tracks, Johnston is joined by a group of collaborators including fellow indie rock staples John Agnello (producer for Dinosaur Jr, Waxahathcee, Hop Along, Twin Peaks, Kurt Vile and many more) and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. Himself a founding member of the breakout 90s group Verbena, much of Johnston's new record draws from the "wild, incredible" journey he's had between then and now. This includes a treacherous cycle through the Alabama prison system and emerging against the odds to become a leader in his Birmingham community - founding a New York Times-celebrated clothing store-art gallery-performance venue focused on bringing the arts to low income neighborhoods. The Social Animals particularly chronicles a period in the early 2010s where Duquette's wife Morgan developed a life-threatening condition while enduring a complicated pregnancy, and the couple's subsequent "radical break from the old way of living and looking at life” that helped them find their way through. Johnston previously shared the advance single "Year To Run" from The Social Animals - watch HERE.