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Hills Like Elephants Find Honesty in the Endless Charade
“I think Hemmingway and maybe Bukowski are the only writers who I’ve read all of their books,” says keyboard crooner Sean Davenport, whose new Hills Like Elephants (the name is a Hemingway reference) project is preparing to release their debut album while Gun Runner goes on a “long term break up.”
The expression is consistent with the heart-on-sleeve mood of Davenport’s pending The Endless Charade LP, a concept album “about certain girl situations.”
“A girl kind of messed me up. I was dealing with that for a while and the music became therapeutic,” Davenport tells me over a beer at Aero Club. “Lyrically, I felt like I made breakthroughs because I was having such a rough time and things were just coming out. A lot of honesty.”
Davenport’s forthcoming “Motown album with drum machines” includes live drums by Matt Lynott of The White Buffalo and engineering by Gun Runner’s go-to, Christopher Hoffee at Chaos Recorders in Escondido.
“The idea was to make a keyboard album where the guitar is textural rather than the main drive of the song,” Davenport says in his distinctive voice, which I recently realized while watching Face Off sounds exactly like Nicholas Cage.
“I didn’t want to do a Sea Change or Bon Iver thing, where the music matches the mood, which is sad. I wanted to keep it dancier. So the album is like a remix of the songs I started with. None of them sound like how they started.”
With Hoffee’s help and taking cues from the likes of Twin Shadow, Peter Wolf Crier, and Destroyer, Hills Like Elephants has been doing the “beat oriented lo-fi dance thing” since October, echoing equally of Dinosaur Jr., LCD Soundsystem, and Sam Cooke.
“Every time I give Chris a musical reference, he always knows exactly what I’m talking about. He’s the other part of the album. He’s good at identifying what I normally go for and gives the album continuity. He knew that for guitar I usually go for something Trip Hop where maybe two notes can be the whole thing, and for keys I go for Talking Heads or the old school Wurlitzer organ. He knew how the vocals would sound. So we’ve been able to work very quickly. He’s phenomenal.”
As The Endless Charade makes use of vintage drum machines, Moog plug-ins, an old school pump organ, and an “‘80s synthesizer with fans blowing in your face to cool it down,” Davenport says the real challenge thus far has been making what happens in the studio happen live with a lineup including Andrew Armerding (River City) emulating synths with guitar and effects, former Gun Runner trapsman Carlos Ortiz, and guitar/bassist Danny Gallo.
“The album’s called The Endless Charade and from one end of the album to the other it shows you that as bad as it gets, it’s going to be OK, and you learn along the way. The games never stop - you have to learn how to play. It’s not spiteful. It’s more just if you can relate.”
The Endless Charade features cover art by Jon Kruger (River City) and is set to be released late February followed by a nationwide tour in May.
In the meantime:
Friday, January 27 – Soda Bar
Hills Like Elephants, Phasers on Stun, A Scribe Amidst the Lions
Thursday, February 9 - Bar Pink
Hills Like Elephants and Ladylike (Phx)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji67ZIxjzhY
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Hills Like Elephants Find Honesty in the Endless Charade
“I think Hemmingway and maybe Bukowski are the only writers who I’ve read all of their books,” says keyboard crooner Sean Davenport, whose new Hills Like Elephants (the name is a Hemingway reference) project is preparing to release their debut album while Gun Runner goes on a “long term break up.”
The expression is consistent with the heart-on-sleeve mood of Davenport’s pending The Endless Charade LP, a concept album “about certain girl situations.”
“A girl kind of messed me up. I was dealing with that for a while and the music became therapeutic,” Davenport tells me over a beer at Aero Club. “Lyrically, I felt like I made breakthroughs because I was having such a rough time and things were just coming out. A lot of honesty.”
Davenport’s forthcoming “Motown album with drum machines” includes live drums by Matt Lynott of The White Buffalo and engineering by Gun Runner’s go-to, Christopher Hoffee at Chaos Recorders in Escondido.
“The idea was to make a keyboard album where the guitar is textural rather than the main drive of the song,” Davenport says in his distinctive voice, which I recently realized while watching Face Off sounds exactly like Nicholas Cage.
“I didn’t want to do a Sea Change or Bon Iver thing, where the music matches the mood, which is sad. I wanted to keep it dancier. So the album is like a remix of the songs I started with. None of them sound like how they started.”
With Hoffee’s help and taking cues from the likes of Twin Shadow, Peter Wolf Crier, and Destroyer, Hills Like Elephants has been doing the “beat oriented lo-fi dance thing” since October, echoing equally of Dinosaur Jr., LCD Soundsystem, and Sam Cooke.
“Every time I give Chris a musical reference, he always knows exactly what I’m talking about. He’s the other part of the album. He’s good at identifying what I normally go for and gives the album continuity. He knew that for guitar I usually go for something Trip Hop where maybe two notes can be the whole thing, and for keys I go for Talking Heads or the old school Wurlitzer organ. He knew how the vocals would sound. So we’ve been able to work very quickly. He’s phenomenal.”
As The Endless Charade makes use of vintage drum machines, Moog plug-ins, an old school pump organ, and an “‘80s synthesizer with fans blowing in your face to cool it down,” Davenport says the real challenge thus far has been making what happens in the studio happen live with a lineup including Andrew Armerding (River City) emulating synths with guitar and effects, former Gun Runner trapsman Carlos Ortiz, and guitar/bassist Danny Gallo.
“The album’s called The Endless Charade and from one end of the album to the other it shows you that as bad as it gets, it’s going to be OK, and you learn along the way. The games never stop - you have to learn how to play. It’s not spiteful. It’s more just if you can relate.”
The Endless Charade features cover art by Jon Kruger (River City) and is set to be released late February followed by a nationwide tour in May.
In the meantime:
Friday, January 27 – Soda Bar
Hills Like Elephants, Phasers on Stun, A Scribe Amidst the Lions
Thursday, February 9 - Bar Pink
Hills Like Elephants and Ladylike (Phx)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji67ZIxjzhY
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