Brighten The Corners Presents Brighton psych-pop project Hollow Hand at The Smokehouse on Thursday 29th October.
Max Kinghorn-Mills is the Brighton-based artist behind the psych-pop project Hollow Hand - and with a new record due this year - the latest signing to Loose Music. 2023’s Your Own Adventure received widespread acclaim (MOJO, Uncut, BBC 6Music, Brooklyn Vegan, La Blogotheque , Aquarium Drunkard, Shindig!) since then, Hollow Hand have toured extensively - serving as house band for Caitlin Rose, collaborating and performing with Aoife Nessa Frances, supporting MJ Lenderman across Europe, and joining Willie J Healey on his most recent UK tour.
“Enchanting and melodic third from folk-rock voyager… Max Kinghorn-Mills casts quite a spell on his third Hollow Hand album” - UNCUT
“Evoking everyone from Stealers Wheel to Jeff Lynne to Tom Petty, Hollow Hand is a shape-shifting beast.” - MOJO 4*
“Everything you ever thought you needed from '60s pop, and a little bit more.” - The Line Of Best Fit
“Beatles-esque… jangly country-rock and psychedelic pop epiphanies” - Shindig! 4*
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Time: 7:30pm - 11pm
Venue: The Smokehouse
Tickets: £12+bf
Supports: tbc
Age Restrictions: 14+ (14- 15s must be accompanied by an adult)Accessibility: There is step-free access into the venue and the bar / accessible toilet / venue are all on one floor. For further information, please email info@brightenthecorners.co.uk so we can make your visit as comfortable as possible.
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“There are two versions of this album,” says Hollow Hand’s Max Kinghorn-Mills. “But there’s only one that exists.”
Kinghorn-Mills is reflecting on a period when he was at something of a crossroads. He had written songs for his forthcoming fourth album but, after coming back off tour, something needed to change. “When I listened back to where I’d left the album, it wasn't exciting enough for me,” he says. “I was like: that's not really what I want to do anymore.”
Since releasing 2023’s Your Own Adventure – which drew acclaim from the likes of Mojo, Uncut, and Shindig! – he found himself touring and collaborating with a variety of other artists. Hollow Hand became the house band for Caitlin Rose on tour, while Kinghorn-Mills was also collaborating with Aoife Nessa Frances and playing in her touring band. There was countless exposure to incredible Irish bands along the way, and then came a sold-out European tour with Hollow Hand supporting MJ Lenderman. When Kinghorn-Mills came back he was bursting with a newfound creative zeal. “Seeing all these different types of bands play, it just made me reflect,” he says. “It makes you step up your game and it creates a feeling that you want to do better. I don't want to ever feel like I'm going through the motions so I decided to start again.”
Hollow Hand has always been a vehicle for Kinghorn-Mills’ songs, and it remains so, but having felt the spark and connectivity of being around more bands, he decided to change tack. “The way I've made albums previously has usually been huddled away in the tradition of a bedroom producer,” says Kinghorn-Mills. “But with this one I expanded my horizons and it made me realise there's so much more to playing, and being in a band, than just recording the songs.”
Along with Oliver Newton (drums) and Leo Clarke (bass) they got together in their new studio space in Brighton and tracked the songs live as a band. “With three of us being involved from the beginning, and all invested in it together, it feels like a group effort, which is a new thing for us,” Kinghorn-Mills says. “Our studio became really important as a creative space and, while it’s not Abbey Road, we were really able to up the production value.”
The first song they worked on was ‘Here are the Tulips’ – a breezy, infectious, and melodic piece of folk-pop that showcases Kinghorn-Mills’ knack for catchy hooks – and something clicked. “I was listening back after a take and I thought, oh man,” he recalls. “There was something about it feeling so live that was magical to me. I realised, right, this has got to be the way we do it. I remember feeling so happy going home that day knowing that we'd found something. Things became much easier after that. We felt reborn. It's such a good feeling when something comes together naturally and you don't force it.”
It was a significant song in many respects to the shaping of the album. Its lyrics – focusing on capturing small stories of everyday life, as it depicts the bus journey that Kinghorn-Mills was frequently taking to the studio – set the mood for unfussy but emotive writing. “I like words which get to the point,” he explains. “There are some songs where the lyrics are pretty painful or extremely personal, there's a lot of fragility, but I like lyrics that entertain me. They don't have to be complicated to make you think and feel something. I like the simplification of talking about what's happening to me day-by-day.” A nearby bus stop on his route to the studio, which he sings about on the song, also gave the album its title: Wish Road South. “Plus, there’s this idea of searching for something,” he says of its multi-layered meaning. “And looking for a guardian angel, trying to find your way and navigate to something that you feel pleased with.”
After the stop-start sessions, and the scrapping of a bunch of songs, the album began to flow seamlessly. Kinghorn-Mills was living with members of the band Holiday Ghosts and exploring guitarist Sam Stacpoole’s record collection would find them listening to groups like The Clean, Violent Femmes and The Modern Lovers together. These influences, combined with his perennial love of 1970s folk-rock like Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, and Heron, plus a whiff of Coney Island Baby-era Lou Reed and some hard rock licks here and there, resulted in a distinct sonic palette for his sparkling new songs to be pushed through.
‘Heavy Metal T-Shirt’ on the surface is based on an unidentified metal t-shirt that Kinghorn-Mills bought at a thrift shop but it contains multitudes of depth, nuance and meaning underneath that. The song has also got the kind of power pop chops that would make Alex Chilton proud. While the propulsive charge of ‘Drinking with Judy’ – a song rooted in Kinghorn-Mills’ times spent in LA “feeling like an alien, embracing that and being amazed by every turn in the city” – sounds like the kind of thing Flying Nun records would have put out if it was in operation in California in the 1970s.
The album is littered with similar examples of Kinghorn-Mills’ hook-laden songcraft, which is boosted by a production that is rich, warm and engulfing. Clarence Clarity was brought on board to mix the album too. “We’re not in his usual wheelhouse as he works mainly in the hyperpop world,” Kinghorn-Mills explains. “But I was really excited to hand him the artistic freedom in mixing the album and he's brought something totally new, exciting and unique to the sound.”
The result is a record in which you can feel the fun coursing through it, as the zest of a reconfigured and tightly-knit group of musicians burns as brightly as the beautifully melodic and unique songs that they’ve carved out. “It feels closer to the goal of sounding like a band playing live than anything else I've made before,” says Kinghorn-Mills. “I guess I needed that difficult time to find myself because I feel completely rejuvenated after making this record.”
- Daniel Dylan Wray (The Guardian)