Some albums are written. Others are lived first. For Johkes, his new 14-track album Peace I Can’t Wake To, released on 24 September, his 30th birthday, is the second kind. It is, in his own words, “probably the most personal thing I’ve ever made,” and it arrives at the end of a year that has seen his story reach further than ever before.
A Story That Starts in Silence
The album goes back to the moment that changed everything: a car crash that left Johkes tetraplegic. What followed was a coma and, strangely, a sense of peace he experienced while unconscious. That quiet, unreal calm sits at the heart of the record and gives the album its title. Waking up meant leaving that peace behind and facing a completely different life.
Across 14 tracks, Johkes doesn’t hide from any of it. The songs move through the crash, the coma, the shock of waking, and the long process of learning who he is now. His family runs through the album as a constant presence, alongside heavier themes of guilt and forgiveness, the kind of emotions that don’t resolve neatly but have to be carried and worked through. Above all, Peace I Can’t Wake To is about rebuilding a life, and the role music has played in that rebuilding.
Releasing it on his 30th birthday gives the record extra weight. It’s a milestone many people take for granted, and for Johkes it marks both how far he has come and the new chapter he is stepping into.
A Year of Growing Momentum
The album lands on the back of real progress. Johkes was recently live on BBC Radio Lincolnshire with Frances Finn, talking about his story and his music, with a snippet of his work played on air. Soon after, Lincolnshire Live covered his journey, something he describes as a huge moment, seeing his story told by his local news.
That local support has been matched by wider interest. He has picked up more online press and features, radio support, and plays from independent stations. His voice has also travelled across the Atlantic through appearances on American podcasts, and his music has been submitted to and listened to through BBC Introducing and 1Xtra.
For an independent artist, this kind of steady, word-of-mouth growth matters. It shows that people are responding not just to the story, but to the music itself.
Turning Experience Into Action: Autonomic Dysreflexia Awareness
Alongside the album, Johkes has launched a campaign to raise awareness of Autonomic Dysreflexia and improve hospital training around it, driven by his own experiences with the condition.
Autonomic Dysreflexia can affect people with spinal cord injuries, usually at a higher level of the spine. It can cause a sudden and dangerous rise in blood pressure, often triggered by something the person can’t feel, and it needs to be recognised and treated quickly. When medical staff aren’t familiar with it, the consequences can be serious. Johkes’ campaign aims to make sure more people, especially in hospitals, know the signs and how to respond.
Readers who want to support the campaign can sign his petition here: https://c.org/Y5mtBDxCKt
Why This Album Matters
There’s a lot of music about pain and recovery, but few records come from as close to the edge as this one. Peace I Can’t Wake To doesn’t offer easy answers. Instead, it sits honestly with loss, anger, love and hope, and lets the listener sit there too. It’s the sound of someone who has been through the unthinkable and chosen to make something from it.
With a growing audience, radio support on both sides of the Atlantic, and a campaign that could genuinely help others, Johkes enters his thirties with a clear sense of purpose. His story is still being written, and this album is its most powerful chapter yet.
Peace I Can’t Wake To is out now.
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thejohker?_r=1&_t=ZN-99hyBRWyeb0
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johkes247?stkn=aGV4aHFmN3R0dnM1
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/johkes/1502302380
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@johkes7585?si=xuHWjwVRkZlC7utH
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