Hallelujah The Hills - “Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire”

I just got a message on facebook from Ryan Walsh, the lead singer and songwriter for the Boston-based power pop band Hallelujah The Hills, a group that I first discovered while interning at WNHU over two years ago. Turns out that he’s a reader of Lewis and his Blog! How cool is that! 

Anyway, on a less personal but more generally exciting note, Hallelujah The Hills have a new record coming out. No One Knows What Happens Next is the title, and it’s currently slated for a May 22nd release date. They’ve already set up a bandcamp page for it, so feel free to check that out HERE. Two of the album’s tracks are up there now, including this lovely gem “Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire.”

With slow, plodding percussion and soothing strings that seem to evoke the scores of Ken Burns’ documentaries, this track is calmer than most of The Hills’ tracks, but Walsh’s introspective lyrics and vocals make it great. These lyrics are classic Walsh, blending evocative, occasionally absurdist imagery in the vein of Robert Pollard’s lyrics with wonderfully simple but poetic turns of phrase — “What they say about me is true,” he admits, “but what they say about you is too.” I’m not sure exactly what ‘they’ say about Walsh’s so-called “Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire,” but I can bet that it’s worth singing about.

No One Knows What Happens Next will be the first major new music from Hallelujah The Hills since the release of Titus Andronicus’ landmark 2010 album The Monitor, my favorite album of that year, which the members of Hallelujah The Hills played on. I got to see this band on tour with Titus Andronicus in support of that record in 2010, and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen to this day. One of the real highlights was when Titus performed “To Old Friends And New,” with Walsh filling in on the vocals that are handled by Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner on the record. I can only hope that I’ll be able to catch Hallelujah The Hills again when they tour in support of the new record.

Song of the Day Number 138

Hallelujah The Hills - “Hallelujah The Hills”

Back in July of last year, I saw Boston’s Hallelujah the Hills play a show here in New Haven supporting Titus Andronicus. Although the former band was much more reserved onstage and far less raucous than the latter, there are a number of connections between the two bands that are worth pointing out. Firstly, Hallelujah the Hills played an important part in the crafting of Titus’ 2010 album The Monitor, bringing their energy to the table and pushing the sound of that record to even loftier heights with added instruments and string arrangements. 

Additionally, where Titus’ frontman Patrick Stickles writes at length about his pride for New Jersey, Hallelujah the Hills singer Ryan Walsh conveys his pride for Vermont in his band’s music. This is best exemplified by the band’s self-titled song, off their 2009 album Collective Psychosis Begone. The song is a ramshackle indie rock anthem, complete with acoustic guitars, strings, pounding drums, and slightly out-of-place synths. Walsh’s wordy vocal delivery recalls R.E.M.’s “It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”, while the song’s melody and sporadic horn breaks evokes some sort of post-modern sea shanty. Like Titus Andronicus’ own self-titled song, “Hallelujah The Hills” is an attempt to encapsulate the spirit and ethos of the band in three minutes. “I was born in Vermont, and she was born in Vermont, and we’ll all die in Vermont, hallelujah the hills!” he sings, as the instrumentation cuts out. While the rest of Collective Psychosis Begone may fail to sustain the power unleashed by this great track, for at least those three minutes, we’re on Walsh’s side.