Jack Johnson Announces New Double Album & Soundtrack SURFILMUSIC For May 2026 Release, Shares New Song “Drink The Water” Featuring Hermanos Gutiérrez

[FEATURED IMAGE: Live photo of Jack Johnson — Photo credit: Jenna Houchin] [INSERT ALBUM COVER ART — Full Size] Category: News Tags: Jack Johnson, Hermanos Gutiérrez

Jack Johnson is heading back to where it all started.

The Hawaii born singer, songwriter and filmmaker has announced SURFILMUSIC Soundtrack and 4-Tracks, a companion double album to his new documentary SURFILMUSIC, out May 15 via Brushfire Records. The film made its world premiere today at SXSW, where Johnson and his band performed a special concert at Stubb’s in Austin alongside Hermanos Gutiérrez.

The first track from the project is out now: a new rendition of “Drink The Water” recorded with Hermanos Gutiérrez, the Ecuadorian brothers whose cinematic guitar work has made them one of the most celebrated instrumental acts working today. The track is unmistakably Johnson in its bones, built on gentle acoustic guitar and an unhurried melody, but Hermanos Gutiérrez bring a dusty, textural warmth to it that gives the recording a new kind of stillness. It sounds like something you would hear on a porch at dusk, which feels entirely intentional for a project rooted in memory and place.

The documentary traces Johnson’s early years making surf films with his closest friends and how those years in the water became the foundation for everything that followed in his music. Directed by Emmett Malloy, the film features Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Gerry Lopez, Ben Harper, G Love, John Florence and others, with a score co-written by Johnson and Hermanos Gutiérrez. Two of Johnson’s early surf films, Thicker Than Water and The September Sessions, both shot by Johnson in his early twenties and previously unavailable to stream, have been remastered in 4K from the original 16mm prints and are now available to rent or purchase on demand.

The double album itself is split across two distinct halves. The first disc, SURFILMUSIC Soundtrack, pairs the film’s original score with remastered selections from Johnson’s early four-track recordings, including “Holes To Heaven,” “The Horizon Has Been Defeated” and an intimate “Ireland.” The second disc, 4-Tracks, goes deeper into the archive, presenting raw four-track versions of some of Johnson’s most beloved songs including “Flake,” “Bubble Toes,” “Taylor,” “Cookie Jar” and “Inaudible Melodies.” Hearing those songs in their earliest form, before they became fixtures of beach playlists and surf montages everywhere, gives them a new intimacy.

Johnson will bring the film home to Hawaii for two special premiere screenings May 14 and 15 at Blaisdell Concert Hall. Tickets go on sale the week of March 16, with a Hawaii resident only presale registration open now. A theatrical run begins in early June. Hermanos Gutiérrez will also join Johnson as support on select dates of his upcoming summer tour. mxdwn previously covered the SURFILMUSIC tour announcement and “Hold On To The Light” single as well as his Meet The Moonlight album review and the In Between Dub “Traffic In The Sky” video.

Watch the video for “Drink The Water” below.

[EMBED: Jack Johnson “Drink The Water w/ Hermanos Gutiérrez” — search YouTube for “Jack Johnson Drink The Water Hermanos Gutierrez” and paste iframe here]

SURFILMUSIC Soundtrack and 4-Tracks is out May 15 via Brushfire Records. The full tracklist is below.

SURFILMUSIC Soundtrack

Side A

1. Hale’iwa (4-track)
2. Hold On To The Light (film version) w/ Hermanos Gutiérrez
3. Journals w/ Hermanos Gutiérrez
4. Drink The Water Sketch (4-track)
5. Drink The Water w/ Hermanos Gutiérrez
6. Slow Down Bruce (4-track)
7. Surfilmusic Interlude w/ Hermanos Gutiérrez
8. Holes To Heaven (4-track)
9. The Horizon Has Been Defeated (4-track)

Side B

10. Tahiti w/ Hermanos Gutiérrez
11. Rodeo Clowns (4-track)
12. Ireland
13. F-Stop Blues (4-track)
14. Rack Focus (4-track)
15. Green Board w/ Hermanos Gutiérrez
16. Only The Ocean Sketch
17. Hold On To The Light (instrumental) w/ Hermanos Gutiérrez

Album 2 — 4-Tracks

Side A

1. Inaudible Melodies (4-track)
2. Flake (4-track)
3. Posters (4-track)
4. Fall Line (4-track)
5. Middle Man (4-track)
6. Fortunate Fool (4-track)
7. Taylor (4-track)

Side B

8. Bubble Toes (4-track)
9. Dream Be Dreams (4-track)
10. Sexy Plexi (4-track)
11. Drink The Water (4-track)
12. Symbol Sketch (4-track)
13. Symbol In My Driveway (4-track)
14. Cookie Jar (4-track)
15. Losing Hope (4-track)
16. Hammer On Slide (4-track)
17. The News (4-track)
18. Brushfire Sketch