New HHNOI & Max Grey Release on Bandcamp, Spotify, etc.
HHNOI /// Rituals EP
1. HHNOI & Max Grey – Ritual
2. Lower
3. Stoic
4. Strums
5. 10th Floor
6. HHNOI & Max Grey – Ritual (edit)
7. HHNOI & Max Grey – Ritual (Remix)
Bandcamp Preorder Link:
https://hhnoi.bandcamp.com/album/rituals
Spotify / Apple Music / Amazon soon.
There’s a plethora of musical sketches I started to work on since the release of “Dear Future” – mostly to find a new direction and to fill that creative emptiness that comes along with the huge effort of writing such a quite personal album. These small ideas, sonic flexes, drafts where meant to fill the void, to overbridge time until the finding inspiration or themes leading to an album … hence many of these sketches end up as small experimental bits on Instagram, with no further meaning.
Roughly 2 1/2 years after finishing “Dear Future” I realize that all these tiny Ideas (62 by the time I am writing this in Nov 22) have more HHNOI essence than the last two EP releases combined – especially more than “The Unspoilt Works Vol. 2“, which I consider being completely off brand with its lo-fi sampling and jazz influences.
Most of the unfinished audionotes that happened independently from the EP releases feel dark and distorted, sinister, melancholic, futuristic and archaic, emotionally raw – as if you would wrap flowers in ultra gritty sandpaper. They are true form unfiltered HHNOI, even if they weren’t meant to be.
So while album number three is slowly shaping up as a return to what I feel HHNOI is supposed to be, I needed a segue between the off brand Unspoilt Works releases and the things that are lining up for next year.
“Rituals” is exactly that. A hint of what will be and a reminder of what should be and should have been all along.
The title track “Ritual” “is a collaboration with the extremely talented sound designer and film composer Max D. Grey, who’s pursuing his career in Hollywood right now and still owes the world his very own debut album. (Trust me, this gentleman will be an important figure for electronic music in the next years – if he ever finishes his album)!
There is a sad (true) and tragic story to this track, about a deadly incident that literally happened next door to where Rachel and I live … but after several discussions about moral responsibilities, the exploitation of other peoples tragedies, etc. I decided to skip the details.
Nevertheless it’s important to note that when Max and I agreed to collaborate on this track, we wanted to not just “make music”, but create something within a narrative frame. So however you listen to “Ritual” (the track), keep in mind that it’s music that could have played a role to someone’s life and death somehow.
“Lower” and “Stoic” are completely new composition derived from the aforementioned small ideas, sparsely fleshed to longform, creating a blueprint for what I’m trying to achieve: Melodic distortion, harmonic low ends, comfort within the unpleasant, resolution and relief in surroundings that are not supposed to comfort.
“Strums” and “10th Floor” are literal leftovers from “The Unspoilt Works Vol. 1” that didn’t fit to that specifically, warm release, as their tonality is rather dark and cold (“Blade Runneresque”).
I hope you like what you hear. And what you feel.
M.