Lahire, the musical project of Nashville-based singer/songwriter/guitarist Johnston Ayala is pleased to announce the release of its debut album Faded West on October 13, 2017. Faded West, a rollicking dystopian dose of heavy Americana, was recorded, mixed and mastered at East Nashville analog studio The Bomb Shelter and co-produced by Billy Bennett and Jon Estes. Bennett and Estes recruited some of Nasvhille’s best talent including guitarists Jay Rutherford (Los Colognes) and Jeremy Fetzer (Steelism) with Julian Dorio (The Whigs, Eagles of Death Metal, Band of Skulls ) on drums. Multi-instrumentalist Estes played bass and a host of other instruments to round out the powerful, atmospheric sound of the album. Faded West combines masterful, narrative storytelling reminiscent of traditional folk and country with the powerful impact of rock and electric blues to create a unique brand of high voltage, mystical roots rock.

“I feel incredibly blessed that things worked out the way I did,” Ayala said. "The album turned out exactly as I saw it in my minds eye. I was looking for an analog studio to record and The Bomb Shelter was the first place I contacted. Andrija got back to me right away. They were incredibly patient as I was finishing up some writing in the midst of recording.”

Lahire’s gothic fiction-laden lyrics lead the listener on a journey in every song and on Faded West, the ride is a cogent journey through a thematic, fictionalized America with unforgettable characters and thematic drama. The vintage vibe is infused with powerful energy eager for adventure and freedom.

Western folklore and mythology are woven throughout the album, like the tracks “Black Mare” and Heavy Rain”. Songs like “Firestorm”, and “Breakneck Headway” are road trip-ready, just waiting for a dashboard drummer and a long stretch of highway. The mythic journey continues with fierce hard rocking “Seek Your Fortune” and “Blood Moon Country”, winding through the dystopian western landscapes of “Foreign Fighter” and “Blue Horizon” culminating in the mystical journeys of “Mississippi Delta Overdrive” and “Twilight Sun”.

"I was always a voracious reader,” Ayala says. "I started writing poetry pretty early on and was really into narrative poetry. I starting reading a lot of fiction in high school and college and was particularly influenced by magical realist writers like Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa as well as gothic American writers like Flannery O’Connor, Sam Shepard and Cormac McCarthy. I think a lot of that influence comes out in my music.”

In 2016, Ayala moved to Nashville to pursue music and Faded West is just the beginning of a new frontier as he embraces his destiny.
As a precursor to Faded West, Lahire is releasing the first single off the album “Mississippi Delta Overdrive”.