Lawn

Emerging from the New Orleans indie underground toward the close of the 2010s, Lawn blended introspective lyrics with chiming indie rock textures and raw post-punk edges, quickly drawing widespread attention after their first album and appearing alongside acts such as Hoops, Omni, and the Drums. Their sophomore full-length, Johnny, arrived in the final months of 2020.

Mac Folger, a Tennessee native handling vocals and guitar, connected with Venezuelan Rui DeMagalhaes on bass and vocals at a house concert in New Orleans; the pair launched the project in 2016 alongside founding drummer Nick Corson, issuing several self-released singles before completing a debut LP. Video Age’s Ross Farbe captured the sessions for Blood on the Tracks, which Forged Artifacts, the Minneapolis indie label, issued in 2018 as a bold showcase of the trio’s appeal. Subsequent shows paired them with Hoops, Hovvdy, Surf Curse, and additional groups. Once Corson exited, Folger and DeMagalhaes enlisted drummer Hunter Keene and adopted a deliberate process for the next record. Working at Matthew Seferian’s local facility, the musicians refined a denser, more layered set of songs that became Johnny in 2020.