Bless These Sounds Under The City interview

Bless These Sounds Under The City: Voices Calling
by Daniel Coston


Sometimes, two people playing music on stage sounds like two people. And in rare cases, these two people can sound like a beautiful army of geniuses and misfits, singing and playing together as they reach towards the heavens in hopes of reaching a larger answer to life’s many questions. Into this latter category falls the duo of Bless These Sounds Under The City.

Before the duo came together in 2012, multi-instrumentalist Derrick Hines was a veteran of serveral Charlotte-area bands, including X-Periment and Baleen. Albert Strawn had been playing solo shows around town, before he and Hines began writing songs together. Their debut album in 2014 was a swirling kaleidoscope of sound and vision, mixing throughtful pop-rock with amber psychedelic waves that recalled Neutral Milk Hotel and Mercury Rev. With the duo now recording their second album at the Chase Park Transduction Studios in Athens, Georgia, the future of the band continues to evolve and grow with the two men that make up the band.

Both Strawn and Hines talked with us via email, and this was the result.


Tangents Magazine: How did you two come together?

Derrick Hines: We met through a mutual friend. I was in a band he was helping to manage and after looking at a few of my lyrics he kept insisting I meet Albert. He kept saying how Albert was this amazing songwriter and he thought we should collaborate. After an awkward forced introduction we never spoke again. He didn't give up. He dragged me to one of Albert's performances and we actually talked more. I was blown away by the songs and we found we had a lot of musical influences in common. I started going by to help with the recording of Albert's demo and started suggesting things for me to play on it. Fast forward through breakups, depressions, me moving to Atlanta and swearing of performing, Albert taking a performance hiatus (unrelated), and the both of us coming back to music, Albert called me and said he was ready to go for it and that I should come back to Charlotte to do it with him. Once he sent me two tracks he was working on (Fireflies and And You Start) I was sold. Tangents: How would you describe the sound of this band?

Hines: I called it Electric Indie Folk but the second album is going to complicate this answer even further. Tangents: Was there a conscious decision to play as just a two-peice?

Hines: Yes. Yes. Yes. (One for each and one combo yes).

Tangents: Are people surprised that it’s just the two of you on stage?

Hines: Most of the time, yes. Tangents: What are the pros and cons of touring, and touring as just two people?

Hines: Pros.

1. It's easier to be diplomatic about everything. 2. $$$$$$ Easy split 3. We get along. Odds are a third person would ruin things. Haha 4. Two schedules are easier to work around. We only have to talk to one other person when trying to book shows. 5. $$$$$$ travel costs 6.When your food is missing you know who ate it so food rarely goes missing. Cons: 1. Workload. Things take a little longer to get done when there are only two people and both have full time jobs. 2. Farts: there's no one to blame farts on when there's just one other person.

Tangents: You’re working on your new album now, at Chase Park in Athens, GA. Talk about recording there, and the new songs.

Hines: It's a completely comfortable and creative atmosphere in there. Andy LeMaster (Azure Ray, Bright Eyes, Saddle Creek, etc.) is a peaceful genius and we are very lucky, honored, and happy to have him use his magic and talent in helping us create this 2nd album. We all toss our ideas out openly and try everything that is suggested to see how it feels. Andy knows what he wants to hear and how to produce it and we agree with the direction he goes in. It's really that simple, which is extremely nice.

The new songs definitely have a different feel from the first album but should compliment it very well. Much like the first album most every song from the first to the last will carry a different persona of sound and style. There is a lot of correlation throughout this 2nd album with the story/lyrics. The basic gist of this new album centers around the beginning and ending of everything and a few events within/the center of the infinite symbol. The opening track is titled "The Sleeping Eight" which represents infinity/the infinity symbol.

Bless These Sounds Under The City: Voices Calling
by Daniel Coston
from the May 2016 issue of Tangents Magazine

Sometimes, two people playing music on stage sounds like two people. And in rare cases, these two people can sound like a beautiful army of geniuses and misfits, singing and playing together as they reach towards the heavens in hopes of reaching a larger answer to life’s many questions. Into this latter category falls the duo of Bless These Sounds Under The City.

Before the duo came together in 2012, multi-instrumentalist Derrick Hines was a veteran of serveral Charlotte-area bands, including X-Periment and Baleen. Albert Strawn had been playing solo shows around town, before he and Hines began writing songs together. Their debut album in 2014 was a swirling kaleidoscope of sound and vision, mixing throughtful pop-rock with amber psychedelic waves that recalled Neutral Milk Hotel and Mercury Rev. With the duo now recording their second album at the Chase Park Transduction Studios in Athens, Georgia, the future of the band continues to evolve and grow with the two men that make up the band.

Both Strawn and Hines talked with us via email, and this was the result. Tangents: Where do you draw inspirations for your songs?

Albert Strawn: The first album was from personal experiences or just about what I was going through personally and they/it needed to be expressed. I never even imagined i would record some of those songs on the first album. They originally came into existence purely for my survival. This second album is still personal but we tied a separate fictional story within that tries to combine personal with imagination in hopes of moving towards being a stronger person in the end. Love and hope are good things. Derrick is also writing more. On the first album he wrote the lyrics for Too Much Everyone. On this 2nd album he is writing 2 and a half songs lyrically. Tangents: You worked a local dance troupe last year. Talk about that.

Hines: There was/is a dance company in Charlotte called Baran Dance. We met them through Mark Baran of Sinners & Saints. Audrey Baran (the owner and main choreographer) loved our music and we ended of collaborating with Baran Dance and a local photographer named Sara Woodmansee. It was an amazing experience of live music and live dance while visuals were being projected on a huge screen behind all of us. The show was called Dance Under The City Sounds. Beautiful friendships were formed and we all got to share the unique experience of performing the show at Booth Playhouse in Charlotte, NC. We also performed pieces of it at TEDxCharlotte and Pecha Kucha.

Tangents: Do labels, or genre questions, get in the way of people discovering, or even enjoying music?

Hines: I think the purpose for genres and labels is to have a place to start when talking about music. I also think that people's listening habits have changed so drastically that labels should apply more on a song-to-song, or per album, basis rather than broad-stroking an artist. All the labels do now is make it harder for artists to get heard on a larger scale (radio, blogs, podcasts, etc.). If you don't sound enough like two or three popular bands of a specific genre or two then they have little interest in spotlighting you. Tangents: Finish this sentence. When it comes down to it, Bless These Sounds are….

Hines: ...ready for festivals: especially overseas. Anyone know a booking agent?