Interview with Hide and Shine
Sofa King Cool caught up with Hide and Shine and we discussed the upcoming album SOFT MACHINES the radio buzz on the new single “ASCENSION DAY”ALTERNATE CHRIS LORD-ALGE MIX, touring and more
HIDE AND SHINE RETURNS
WITH SECOND-EVER SINGLE, “ASCENSION DAY”
ALTERNATE CHRIS LORD-ALGE MIX – LISTEN
HUDSON VALLEY NY ROCK BAND SET TO RELEASE
DEBUT ALBUM, SOFT MACHINES, ON JUNE 7
Kingston, New York rock trio Hide and Shine are proud to release their second-ever single, “Ascension Day.” The soaring new track comes from their debut album, Soft Machines, out on June 7. Today’s release is not the version on the album, but a very special alternate mix from Chris Lord-Alge. In other words, it is a bona fide “professional audio production.” Evidently many people agree, because the band has been booking up their first shows on the strength of the new mix. The track follows last month’s release of “Detroit Rising” which is also streaming everywhere now.
Plus, more good news from the band: “It’s raining songs over here!” They are just about to begin recording their next batch of 14 songs. Each day the band works together, it feels a little bit more like destiny…
“One night while camping with a friend, he produced a book and began to read aloud,” says Hide and Shine’s guitarist and singer Chris Kelly. “It was about a professor of theology who was studying UFO (UAP) experiences and trying to connect their similarities to that of religious experiences. My friend read a part of the book that deals with synchronicity — things coinciding in ways that seem unlikely, or impossible, but are very meaningful in some way.”
“The author also described a ‘book experience,’ where people impulsively pull a book from a shelf randomly, or accidentally come across a book that they relate to in an extraordinary, meaningful way — and it just can’t be a normal coincidence. When my friend was done reading, he looked over at me and my eyes were popped out and my jaw was hanging open. ‘I.. I.. I just finished writing a song about some sort of religious UFO experience!’ Yet again, I saw that the universe is firing on all cylinders, magnificently mysterious, weird, and fully conscious of us. I did not intend to write a song about UFOs, but the very first phrase to impulsively pop out was ‘Waiting for the saucers to arrive.’ I said ‘Ooh, what’s this?’ I love thinking about weird stuff. I don’t have any conspiracy theories about anything, but I know there’s always some kind of conspiracy going on.”
LISTEN TO “ASCENSION DAY”
PRE-ORDER SOFT MACHINES
Soft Machines came as a surprise. Singer-songwriter Chris Kelly describes the project as starting with a “psychic download of 50 song ideas.” These ideas were about to become another in a line of obscure, unknown, invisible solo projects, but a chance meeting in 2022 with drummer Michael Chambers sparked the wild notion of “a band.” The two began making noise and translating the musical sketches into songs. The addition of bassist Chris Ferguson completed the lower frequencies of this power trinity.
“Songs don’t come from people, they come through people,” says Kelly.
Hide and Shine are the stewards of this music—tasked with translating the images and commands of the unconscious world, into the sounds and words of this world. The sounds reflect a range of sensibilities, across seven decades of American and British music, and the lyrics often hint at esoteric themes. The songs seem unusual but feel familiar, or perhaps it’s the other way around. The work has been described as “energetic, and moody, and real, and other—a kind of art/death/country/rock/alternative.”
HIDE AND SHINE
SOFT MACHINES
Release Date: June 7, 2024
Download Hi-Res Image
Tracklisting:
Where Was I Then
You and Yesterday
Horses on the Water
Detroit Rising
I Could Say It’s Not Alright
Here There and Every Nowhere
Mindless Apparition
Gunga Din
Dreaming
Red River
Wait Until the Sun Is Right
I Can Tell You Anything
Backyard to the Stars
Ascension Day
CONNECT WITH HIDE AND SHINE:
Web | YouTube | Bandcamp | Instagram
