Baltimore-based band The Hushdown offer up a captivating rock sound that touches on everything from prog rock and metal to folk and blues and they fittingly describe as “eclectic art rock.”
The Hushdown is built around vocalist and lyricist Kali Hinkel, from a small Oklahoma town called Marlow, and Bel Air, Maryland, guitarist and composer Jeremy Hicks-Kachik, who met when Kali was recording a solo project in Hollywood and needed a guitarist. The rest of the band has been through several changes over the years, but is currently formed of drummer JimmyO Burril, who’d played in another music project Jeremy had been part of, along with bassist Josh Hutchinson and backing vocalist April Burril.
On the sound they’ve crafted, Kali told us: “This is that question I always struggle to answer. For a while there, we would make up genres on the spot, ‘Gypsy blues prog rock,’ ‘post modern folk metal.’ But really if we’re being serious, it’s blues-based rock with a touch of gypsy jazz here, a pinch of motown there, and a little bit of whatever we have been currently enjoying. When we write a song, we are never aiming for a genre, we just write music we like. I have taken to just saying Art Rock lately as it pretty much says it all.”
Our latest taste of this is Good For You, which was released at the start of this month. It opens up with light guitars and chatter, which give way to a cool bending guitar lick, then stabbing guitar chords support Kali’s engaging vocals. Cool backing vocals come in as it builds up to a big singalong, slightly sarcastic and cynical chorus “Oh well good for you, Happy everything is going great for you, Yeah look at you, Guess that life is perfect maybe baby baby, when you’re you.” It drops back into a verse, before the pace builds up to a chorus, which gives way to repeats of “I’ve no defence for you.” The intensity increases as it flows into a big final blast chorus that ends with a cry of “Yeah fuck you too, Guess that life is perfect maybe baby baby, when you’re you.” And the track concludes with repeats of “So good for you.”
On the track, Kali said: “So far the reception has been great. We have been getting play on several Radio stations globally and added to several well-known playlists. Considering it’s only been out since the first of August, I think this one could have legs. For anyone who hasn’t heard it yet… It’s a bit of a throwback tune, very Y2K punky pop rock. Lyrically, I poke fun at myself and the culture of social media in general, calling out the toxic side of the social network and the human need for validation, no matter where it might come from.”
The track comes from the band’s upcoming album Inherit The Night, on which Kali told us: “Oh so very excited! It has been several years since we put out a new album. We took nearly a year putting this one together. We never really stick to one genre, and this album is no exception when it comes to that. I had a lot to say about society and the state of America on this album, but there are personal songs as well.
And Jeremy added: “The main thrust of this album is the freedom to be what you are unabashedly and make art that is reflective of the change you want to see in the world.”
When asked which of the tracks she was most excited about people hearing, Kali added: “It’s like asking which kid is your favorite, I love them all. I guess if you really held me down for an answer, I am excited for the title track, Inherit the Night. It’s this witchy spell of a song. On the surface it could be viewed as a love song, an enchantress seducing a man, but dig deeper and it’s also about the world women build.
And Jeremy said: “I’m absolutely terrible at favourites. This record is so musically diverse, but an outlier among them that I think people will have a lot of fun with is Burn Road. It’s one of those songs that’s super fun, very different from anything we’ve ever written. It took about five minutes to write from an old line in a notebook. It’s just an infectiously joyous back porch jam, I think people are really going to dig it.”
The Hushdown offer up an intriguing fusion of sounds and styles and, if you can’t wait for the album to come out for more of a taste of what may be coming our way, there’s plenty more music to dig into. We firmly recommend checking out their recent singles, the lively Corned Beef Hash and American Battle Cry, which crescendos to a powerful conclusion, and last year’s EPs Dark Days and Fool’s Parade.
The Hushdown sound has been influenced by a wide range of artists, from Kali growing up on the likes of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Nicks, Heart, Grace Slick, Robert Johnson and Sun House through to 90s music like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, No Doubt and Weezer. While Jeremy draws inspiration from early influences like The Beatles, AC/DC, Cat Stevens, Blue Oyster Cult, Stevie Wonder, Yes and Van Halen and, in particular, being introduced to Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads’ Tribute album that offered a gateway to guitar players like Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani.
And on what inspires them to write music, Kali explains: “For me, music is like oxygen, I need to write to live. No topic is ever off the table. Usually when we write, Jeremy will have a riff he is playing with and I will ask him how it makes him feel, or I will just have a line pop into my head and go from there. I have never sat down and said ‘I’m going to write a song about this…’ It’s more organic than that. I write down what his playing inspires in me.”
And Jeremy added: “When I start writing something on guitar or any other instrument, I lean into what evokes a strong emotion in me, so my musical intent is always to make something I enjoy and hope that someone feels that same feeling and can resonate with the vibrations I’m putting out. Anything can inspire me to write, from warm pavement to thunderstorms.”
The Hushdown’s new album Inherit The Night will be released on 5 September. The same night, they’ll be playing the album in full live at the STAR Center in Havre de Grace, Maryland, from which they’re taking donations to nonprofit Luckiest Light, which gives young artists with disabilities a space to create art. Tickets are available here. They’ll be playing more shows on the East Coast and have plans to tour and play festivals next year.
And Kali added: “I think the best way people can learn about us is by listening to our music. We really say everything you could ever want to know about us in our songs. Music is the universal language, and ours speaks volumes about who we are and what we’re about much more eloquently than I can verbalize.”
You can follow The Hushdown on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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