Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Josh and Nicole Johnson of Elenowen just released a new full-length album, “For the Taking.”

Elenowen’s “For the Taking,” featuring 10 new tracks, hit iTunes Tuesday.

For those who don’t recall, Elenowen is Josh and Nicole Johnson. They landed a spot on Team Blake way back in Season 1 of The Voice with a lovely cover of “Falling Slowly.”

Their stay on the show was fairly short-lived; they lost to Jared Blake in the battle round. But four years later, the couple is still making music together.

Their name comes from the middle names of their parents — Ellen being Josh’s mom’s middle name and Owen being the middle name of Nicole’s dad. “They’re the sides of the family we each got our music from,” Josh explains on Facebook.

As for the musician couple, they met when they were 15 and 16. “We dated for a year, broke up for a year and a half, then got back together and have been together ever since,” Nicole says.

They released one album, “Pulling Back the Veil,” prior to their appearance on The Voice. Since the show, they’ve released three singles and a self-titled EP in 2012.

They’ve also escaped the basement apartment in which they were living when they auditioned for the show and have had a son. And appearing on The Voice allowed them to quit their days jobs and focus on their music, Josh said in an interview you can read here.

The new album was funded with the help of a Kickstarter campaign. Among the tunes you should definitely check out: “Creatures of Habit,” “Cold Hard Truth” and “Place from Where I Fell” (embedded below).

Josh and Nicole told The Rolling Stone many of the songs on the album are about their experiences as a couple, working to make a career out of music.

Nicole explained the album’s title this way: “Josh and I have been married for almost six years, and we’ve been talking about starting a family for a while. At one point, it was like, ‘Why are we waiting? Because we’re broke? Because we don’t know what’s around the corner? If we continue living our lives this way, we’re not gonna live our life.’ That’s where the title of the record comes in. At the end of the day, it’s your life, and it’s right there for the taking.”

You can follow Elenowen on their website and Facebook page. They have some upcoming tour dates to promote the new album, including a Valentine’s night show at Milk Boy in Philly. You can find ticket info here.