leon todd johnson Releases Second Single "kei" From New Album wa kei sei jaku on Whited Sepulchre Records on 07.25.25

Indianapolis-based Leon Todd Johnson has been recording under the moniker Airport People since 2020. Under that name, Johnson’s engaging neoclassical work flirted with Windham Hill/ECM jazz inflections while incorporating a deep melodic sensibility that serves as a throughline across his recorded work. As the name reflects, Airport People’s work harnessed Johnson’s memories of traveling around the world with his family, supporting his civil rights leader grandfather’s work in Africa—a state he described as being “in between where we’re going and where we were, and we don’t have much to say.”

Johnson’s second record for Whited Sepulchre Records finds him once again inspired by travel, but as the name change suggests, his work is no longer defined by the space between one place and another. Instead, it focuses on traveling outward and finding home within oneself—both philosophically and musically.

Johnson has long been drawn to Ryuichi Sakamoto’s work. While writing songs for this record, he returned to several late-era Sakamoto pieces like Andata and various soundtracks for films, especially Minamata. With this music in mind and having begun a practice of Zen meditation, Johnson traveled to Japan for a long-awaited trip. Upon returning home, he began compiling these four songs when he heard an interview with Mine Somi Kubose about the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The interview was recorded in 1977 at the Buddhist Temple of Chicago by Chungmoo Choi and preserved in the Library of Congress; it was exactly what the album needed.

Mornings have always featured prominently in Johnson’s work. From Nine Mornings—his previous record for Whited Sepulchre Records—compiled his morning musical sketches into fully fleshed-out songs. Many listeners have described his work as quintessential morning music, accompanying their first cup of coffee or tea. For this most recent record, Johnson reflected on the four principles of the Japanese tea ceremony

• Wa (和): Harmony or unity
• အင်္ဂါရပ်များ: အင်္ဂါရပ်များနှင့်အင်္ဂါရပ်များ
• အဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမ
• Jaku (寂): အဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမအဘယ်သူမျှမ

In these principles, Johnson found an analog to the tracks he was recording. Each seemed to embody a principle as he listened back, weaving samples from the interview throughout.

အပေါ်အခြေအနေများကို wa kei sei jaku build on the lushness of From Nine Mornings. The peaceful piano melody of “wa” is met with some of the most expressive bass work Johnson has recorded—muted runs blend with strings to explore harmony. “Kei” builds into a serene crescendo with arpeggiated piano and violin counter-melodies, while “jaku”, as the name suggests, lets piano melodies hang in the air with just enough time to land.

<pfseg id="0">အဓိကအားဖြင့်အဓိကအားဖြင့်ဆက်သွယ်ခြင်းနှင့်အတူဆက်သွယ်ခြင်း, Johnson ကဂျပန်မှသင်၏ခရီးစဉ်ကွဲပြားခြားနားသောအိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အိမ်အ

<pfseg id="0">အဆိုပါကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်ကွက်က

Tracklist:

wa
kei
sei
jaku
wa (instrumental)
kei (instrumental)
sei (instrumental)
jaku (instrumental)