Hindquarters - "Songs in the Night"
Words by Miles Ginoza.
The first time I listened to Hindquarters’ new EP, Songs in the Night, I was driving home after delivering Christmas dinner to my grandmother. For me, the holidays have always been about spending time with family. This year, with California under strict lockdown due to a terrifying spike in COVID-19 cases, my inability to see them, to break bread together, to sing karaoke, to laugh until our sides hurt, was a painful reminder of the distance and isolation I’ve felt throughout this year. Yet, as I drove home in the dark and the rain, listening to Songs in the Night, I felt a special warmth run through me. It was the kind of warmth you feel sitting in the back seat as your parents drive home. The kind of warmth that feels safe. The feeling that, no matter how far we may have to go, we will make it home.
Hindquarters is made up of Isaac Pearl and Elliot Hartmann-Russell. Though now based in Western Massachusetts and Queens, NY, the pair first met in 2012 in Portland, OR where they immediately bonded over a shared love for pop and rock music of the 1960s and 1970s. Over the past eight years, they have established a ritual of making music together whenever they find themselves in the same place. Each of their releases, then, is a time capsule, a memento of each reunion, a celebration of their friendship through song. Amidst this global pandemic, this gratitude for friendship and music feels particularly poignant.
The three tracks that make up Songs in the Night were recorded over the course of spring 2018, edited in 2019, and mastered and released on Winter Solstice, December 21st this year. To revisit these special memories of connection and share them with the world for the holidays is a gift. From the start, an uplifting rush of energy greets us. Hindquarters brings with them the positivity and warmth of their influences—The Beatles, Grateful Dead, Beach Boys, Bob Dylan. Their sound is grounded in the classic guitar, bass, and drums outfit, but incorporates accents of trumpet, saxophone, strings, piano, and glockenspiel that creates a grand and modern feeling. Pearl and Hartmann-Russell are joined by Sen Morimoto, Eli Pearl, Izzy Hagerup, Stephen Kerr, and Zack Zucker.
“That’s the Way of it All” opens with lush vocal harmonies that feel like a breath of fresh air. Over a relaxed acoustic groove, Pearl and Hartmann-Russell sing, “All the leaves will fall / That’s the way of it all.” There is a feeling of acceptance with the ways of the world, of trying to find coexistence through both good times and bad. Ultimately, they remind us of our inner light: “The sun was always there in you and me.” Picking up the pace with more feel-good energy, “Remember the Night” is the song that gives us the strength we need on a long drive home. It is an honest reflection, both somber in realizing that “It’s such a long way home” and uplifting in giving space to honor how far we have come. “Gliding (You Take My Breath Away)” rounds out the EP with an exuberant glow, hitting full stride with shining guitars, grooving bass, drums, and Pearl, Hartmann-Russell, and Morimoto singing brilliantly together. We can see home just barely in the distance and we are gliding, gliding towards it with excitement, gratitude, and relief. It is a fitting ending to the EP and a fitting ending for the year, an uplifting rush we so desperately need and a celebration of what matters most—the bonds we continue to hold onto even in the darkest of times.
Stream the EP below! Hindquarters’ EP Songs in the Night is available on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music. There are lovely handmade CDs and cassettes available on their Bandcamp via Requested Records.
