Hyms - Double the Pleasure

The seeds that would grow into Hymns were originally sown more than a decade ago at an elementary school in North Carolina, where Brian Harding and Jason Roberts met. The two bonded over a shared love of music and guitars, forming a friendship that would eventually transcend geographic boundaries and life-changing decisions. They eventually chose to attend college together where the duo worked under a number of band monikers. Individually, they’ve helped fill out other band rosters, including touring stints as part of Ben Kweller’s band.

After the gang moved to New York City in 2003, they reinvented themselves as Hymns. Completed by the addition of bassist Jeremy Kay and drummer Tony Kent, the unit references and recalls early Stones, Neil Young, and Gram Parsons, mashed together with Pavement, Spoon, Wilco, and The Kings of Leon. Their sound is a beautiful marriage of their current big-city life and the back porch breeze of their Southern roots, garnering them opening slots for Evan Dando, Los Lobos, and others.

Brother/Sister, Hymns' debut offering, was recorded during the summer of 2005, at Blackland Records’ in-house studio. Situated in Celeste, Texas, with a booming population of 737, the Blackland studio, with its old-school character, was the perfect ground for the creation of the band’s first record, which was produced by John Kent. Due on October 10th, Brother/Sister, an album which owes as much to New York know-how as it does to Celeste community dinners, is the ultimate document to announce the coming of Hymns.

Press has already started discovering Hymns. Toxic Flyer said their sound “gives off a Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Supergrass, and even Tom Petty feel, only with more buzz of moody and melodic chops going on.” Says ’Sup Magazine: “Their dreamy West Coast folk was drifting me off to a place where VW vans cruise the horizon, the weather isn’t perpetually set on ‘March,’ and Gram Parsons is Jesus. I dare you to listen.” The Village Voice dubbed their music “California sunset twang,” while Pulse Weekly called Hymns “master of the art of simple delivery.”

www.hymnsband.com
www.myspace.com/hymnsband
www.rockridgemusic.com www.blacklandrecords.com