Interview // Hurt Valley
On Glacial Pace, the debut release from Hurt Valley out Friday via Woodsist, songwriter Brian Collins triangulates the virtues of tie-dyed agrarianism, the spirit of under-recognized psych private press recordings of the 70s, and a contemporary California enlightenment.
You’ve mentioned a trip to Death Valley many years ago spurred the creative motivation to put the Hurt Valley project into motion. What about that place inspired you?
It’s one of the weirdest, most interesting places I’ve been too. It’s either freezing cold or blazing hot, nothing really lives there, and huge rocks move across the ground by themselves? You can also stand on a playa that is hundreds of feet below sea level and still stay dry and breath. It truly seems to be the closest thing there is to being on another planet.
It sounds like Hurt Valley has been a product long in the making. How long have you been crafting the songs that have become Glacial Pace? How have the songs changed and grown over time to reach their final form on the record?
I started recording Glacial Pace three or four years ago. Almost all the songs started as some other song, and I just kept recording new parts over old ones until I thought they sounded good. I also recorded all the music before having any vocal tracks, so some of the songs didn’t have any vocals for a long time - like up to a year for a couple songs.
What made you finally wrap up the creation of the record? Had you just found the time to finish or were you pushed to complete the project by some other force?
I just had to wrap it up or I was never going to move on to making new songs. I just kept tinkering around with different aspects of the tracks.
What was the recording process like for the record? Was it a singular or group effort for the recording and production workload?
I recorded all the songs in my living room. I played and recorded all the instruments on my own. I wrote all the songs as well.
With such a collaborative recording process, do you envision easily being able to create a live performance for the record?
I did everything on Glacial Pace on my own. It has not been easy trying to get these songs going live but slow and steady wins the race, and I think we’re making good progress, and it’s been a lot of fun working the songs out and we should be ready to play when that call comes.
What makes Woodsist a fitting home for your Hurt Valley record?
I’ve listened to many releases from Woodsist and I am thrilled they wanted to work on this with me. After listening to these songs so many times, there were only a few places I felt like it could end up if someone was going to help with that end of it.
I’m really happy to have worked with Woodsist on this, it means a lot to me and they have been awesome.
Puchase Hurt Valley’s debut record Glacial Pace out 12/6 via Woodsist.