The best thing about working with your significant other is being around your favorite person all the time. The worst thing about working with your significant other is…see above. But when your voices blend together as lusciously as Amanda Sudano’s and Abner Ramirez’s do, you owe it to the world to form a singer-songwriter duo called Johnnyswim.
Releasing their first EP in 2008 and marrying a year later, Sudano and Ramirez have earned a well-deserved following for their throwback songwriting and soothing harmonies, which were on full display at the Vic Theatre on Tuesday night. (My friend who was unfamiliar with the group remarked, “It’s like he has the male version of her voice and she has the female version of his.”) Accompanied by a small but powerful backing band that eclipsed the sum of its parts and offered a more expansive atmosphere than the stage setup would suggest, the husband and wife showed genuine affection for one another and the captivated audience.
Early in the set, Sudano acknowledged the band’s affinity for their latest record, When the War is Over, which they played in its entirety interspersed throughout the show. The album’s lead track “Alchemy” also opened the show, with the silhouetted singers behind a curtain. Once they emerged, nearly every song was preceded by banter that began more straightforwardly—Sudano recounted writing the haunting love ballad “Psilocybin” to cheer up her husband on a rough day—but quickly loosened up, turning the evening into a fun house party where the hosts happened to be extremely talented singers performing for friends.
Ramirez became especially playful around the halfway point, complimenting the crowd by joking about how, because Johnnyswim effectively performs the same setlist night to night, they could get by with delivering “60-70% effort,” but the audience’s enthusiasm made it impossible to phone it in. “Our apologies to New York City,” he mused, referencing the next stop on the tour. “We’re leaving it all here in Chicago. You guys are out here making a Tuesday night look like the weekend.”
Despite his crack about the formulaic setlist, the rest of the band stepped aside for Sudano and Ramirez to perform an intimate acoustic set custom-made for the Chicago crowd. (Fans could request their favorite songs on the Johnnyswim website ahead of the show.) This portion of the night included 2014 fan favorite “You and I” as well as “Take the World,” dedicated to a couple in the audience who used the song for their first dance.
My first exposure to Johnnyswim came over a decade ago, when my then-boss’s son was hired as their touring drummer (shoutout to Rico!), but Tuesday’s show at the Vic was my first opportunity to see them live. I knew from their recorded work to expect a captivating performance, but I was totally unprepared for the authentically joyful vibe that emerged between songs. Anyone can enjoy their gorgeous harmonies and soulful songwriting on record, but seeing them live is a fun and refreshing revelry I hope to experience again.
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