Driver

Description

Erik Hall worked patiently and solitarily for four years to craft Driver, his sophomore album as In Tall Buildings. The album comes twenty years after Hall originally fell in love with home recording at age 13 the year he got his hands on his first multi-track recorder. As a multi-instrumentalist and producer Hall eventually went on to record and tour with several groups, including old friends His Name is Alive and, more recently, dream-pop duo Wild Belle, performing the rhythm section tracks and lending an engineering hand to their Columbia Records debut. In 2010 Halls home recording efforts yielded the first In Tall Buildings album, which The Huffington Post called gorgeous indie-pop, and the Chicago Tribune found hypnotic. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, he summed up much of his philosophy about composition with a pair of conflicting quotes he attributes to Allen Ginsberg and Kurt Vonnegut, respectively: First thought, best thought and Edit yourself, mercilessly. Loosely guided by these principles, Hall set out once again to assemble a new batch of songs, when he wasnt recording and touring with other bands. In stark contrast to the dense polyrhythms echoed by NOMOs albums, Driver uses a relatively simple palette to create spacious pop songs, leaving plenty of room for Halls often Peter Gabriel-esque vocals to shine. The music, though culled from every guitar, keyboard, and drum he managed to fit into his home studio, is powerful in its restrained simplicity, and its a compelling foil to the haunting gravity of his vocal performance. Never rushed, his melodies deliver elliptical lyrics that manage to feel intimate, while retaining a sense of mystery. Ultimately, the albums melancholic vibe is relatable, rather than moping or histrionic, and in the end these songs are incredibly comforting and inviting.

hypnotic CHICAGO TRIBUNE

a winning mix of folk, chamber-pop, and experimental composition. TIME OUT CHICAGO

In Tall Buildings music grabs you immediately. DAYTROTTER

gorgeous indie-pop. HUFFINGTON POST

In Tall Buildings is the aural representation of a pleasantly scattered mind. AMERICAN SONGWRITER