With The Night Game, Martin Johnson, the Boston-born frontman of Boys Like Girls and (ghost) songwriter of numerous hits for many other artists, has fulfilled an artistic dream. "For the first time in my life, I've had as much time as I wanted to create new music - and I've taken it," he says of his solo project, which wows live with a fantastic backing band. So far, "The Outfield," "Once In a Lifetime," "Kids In Love," "Bad Girls Don't Cry" and "American Nights" have been just five singles released from his new project, and now the release of the self-titled debut album has been announced for September 7. Already these first listening impressions prove the specialness of The Night Game, as Martin Johnson manages to lift the somewhat dusty new wave genre into the modern age, creating a brilliant mix of the dark wave aesthetic and anthemic pop hits of the present. Just days after the album's release, The Night Game's major European tour kicks off, including six shows in Vienna, Zurich, Dresden, Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne between September 10 and 22.
Until now, the career of Martin Johnson, born in 1985 in a small town in Massachusetts, has known two parallel strands: On the one hand, he is the frontman and main songwriter of the pop-punks Boys Like Girls, who are very successful especially in the USA, with whom he released three albums between 2006 and 2012 and with singles such as "The Great Escape" or "Two Is Better Than One" placements in the top 20 of the US Billboard charts. On the other hand, he is considered one of the most high-profile songwriters for other artists: with tracks written by him, performers such as Hannah Montana, Jason Derulo, Avril Lavigne, Gavin DeGraw, Daughtry, Taylor Swift and Christina Perri landed hits in top positions on the US charts, and in total more than 10 million copies of singles penned by him were sold. And yet his artistic potential seems far from exhausted.
After Boys Like Girls agreed to take an indefinite hiatus following the tour for their latest album, Crazy World, Martin Johnson found the space to create new music without any pretense or stylistic constraints for the first time since he began working as a professional musician. The very first song, "The Outfield," released in April 2017, was a testament to his vision for an unconventional mix of the classic cool new wave aesthetic paired with big hooks - backed on vocals by Belgian-Australian artist Gotye. Promptly, Billboard Magazine wrote of "a future classic."
The superb "One In a Lifetime" followed before Johnson entered into another exciting collaboration for the third single, "Kids In Love," released last October: This song was created in collaboration with Norwegian EDM star Kygo. Here, his exclusive wave-pop mix was combined with the coolness of modern dance beats. Just another sign of the open-mindedness and creative freedom Martin Johnson is pursuing with The Night Game. A first US tour alongside American superstar John Mayer proved that The Night Game are also convincing live with a high artistic density alternating with grandiose melodies.
Lyrics source (https://www.eventim.de/the-night-game-frankfurt-a-m--tickets.html?affiliate=GMD&doc=artistPages%2Ftickets&fun=artist&action=tickets&key=2212268%2410964288&jumpIn=yTix&kuid=550888) and more information about this event: https://zoomfrankfurt.com/event/konzert-the-night-gamenorthern-hemisphere-2018
