Hollow Hand

After quite a few months of anticipation the new album from Hollow Hand is on the decks and it’s well worth the wait. A while back I’d become caught up in Max Kinghorn-Mills’ single “One Last Summer.” His was a name I’d caught on a poster for Spencer Cullum, Sean Thompson, and Bobby Lee’s UK review on a local show in Max’s Brighton locale. The single was threaded with warm breezes and a subtle ripple of psychedelia, but also a pop acumen that felt reminiscent of some recent Curation signees like Trevor Beld Jimnez or anchor-heads GospelbeacH. Skip to a few months later and it seems that Max was already lining up a new record for Curation, with some familiar names lining the credits — Tim Smith (Midlake, Harp), Spencer Cullum, Ryan Pollie, and Holly Macve among them.

Your Own Adventure spins the dial between psych, country, folk, and indie, never shying away from robust production. Like a one-man Elephant 6, Kinghorn-Mills laces his psych-pop with backwards guitars, flutes, and synths. Hollow Hand’s works don’t linger in whimsy, but there’s always a sense of sparkle clinging to the edges of Max’s pop odes. As the album plunges deeper, hypnotic outros consume the listener, nodding a bit to the layered pop of Super Furry Animals. The country touches creep in subtly, but balance the record with a road-worn rumple. Lightly clouded Byrdsian harmonies bounce off of the Anglican folk figures, a potent brew of Bill Fay, Nick Garrie, and Duncan Browne. The album succeeds in its balance of West Coast cues and home-brewed folk tenderness. With a push from Chris Cohen in the mixing chair, the album’s thickened into a psych-pop classic, a new chapter for Hollow Hand that one can only hope is just the start.