Someone Will Be There For You

It’s difficult to believe that Eddie Johnston is just 23. The songwriter and producer behind Lontalius has already released three EPs and two albums, plus several more EPs and many remixes as his electronic producer alter-ego Race Banyon.

His music has attracted many millions of listeners, and yet Lontalius is better known in America than his homeland. He was signed to Brooklyn-based indie label Partisan Records for his first album I’ll Forget 17, then spent five years in Los Angeles, collaborating with the likes of Grammy Award winning producer Om’Mas Keith (Frank Ocean, Erykah Badu) and Jim Fairchild (Grandaddy, Modest Mouse) on his sophomore album All I Have, which he released in late 2019 upon his return home to Wellington, New Zealand.

The homecoming allowed Lontalius to begin a new season of independent songwriting, with the knowledge gained from his collaborative projects embedded in his mind to draw upon. Moving to Auckland in March 2020, he almost immediately went into lockdown in his new home, emerging two months later with a new collection of songs. He took these songs into studio 4 of Stebbing Recording Centre to develop and record the songs with musicians including Alex Freer and Tom Healy, who also feature in his live band.

The studio space has given Lontalius the luxury of a creative space with no hard deadlines, allowing him to lean into his craft, and self-produce his third and most ambitious album to date. With the release of Someone Will Be Here For You, Lontalius will demonstrate why he’s one of New Zealand’s most exciting musical talents, an artist with an astonishing set of skills and talents, and the ability to write a song that will stay with you for days.