Golden Hymns Sing 'Hurrah'

Photo by, Sean Rainer

Meet Nicholas

The fact “post” keeps getting lobbed onto every and all genres is proving quite annoying. However, the term “post-rock” is actually a gorgeous little umbrella term encompassing all types of genres — it’s like a pick ’n mix of ambient, indie, psych, prog, and space. Yeah SPACE!

Golden Hymns Sing “Hurrah” are smack under this umbrella in a hailstorm of experimental music. They are post-rockers through and through. Does their band name confuse you? Do their tunes soothe you? Can I think of any other rhymes?

Answers: Yes. Yes. And no. 

Below, we chat with the fellas about what keeps them going, the importance of comfy outfits, and asteroid-influenced songs. 

GIVE IT A LISTEN AND A READ AND A LIKE!

CAR OF THE YEAR A Mad-Lib by, Nicholas

It's here, the all-new GROSSMAN. The most luxurious ALARM CLOCK you'll ever drive! The only four-door MAURICE RAVEL that comes equipped with dual COPPER CABLES, power TOWERS, and contoured, plush leather BOOKS. And, believe it or not, it is the only car in its class that can fit up to a hundred thousand SCIENTISTS without needing a COFFEE or a BELT. Run, do not DEFENESTRATE to your nearest GROSSMAN dealer and feast your HANDS on the car that Motor GLOCKENSPIEL magazine calls the PERFIDIOUS MONTREAL, QC of the year. As always, we save the best for last. When you see the sticker price, you are sure to shout, "FORWARDS MARCH!!"

Would You Rather

be able to lift things a hundred times your weight, or have control over all of the ants in the world? Why?

If it's all good - I've brought this one up to the other guys in the band, this will be the kind of question I ask people for years as a test of character.

Nicholas: Absolutely control of all the ants, in fact - Give me all the ants and I could handily crush anyone 

Joe: I feel like I heard somewhere recently that the weight of all the ants in the world is significantly more than that of all the humans, so I'm gonna go with controlling the ants.  I could have them carry all my stuff and I'd send an ant body double In my place if I don't want to go somewhere.  The possibilities are just endless

Tom: Ants. Why? Because you can do almost anything with them, to be honest. Super strength is just super strength.

Some Questions with Nicholas

What is your ideal environment (including snack choice) when writing music?

I have the bad habit of writing mainly at the very end of the day so i'll usually try avoiding eating. That being said, coffee's always been fuel for the engine (Coffee counts as a snack).

Who are your favorite bands active in NYC right now?

Sungazer is an Jazz Fusion/Electronic band mainly in the NY area that is really doing something different with a wicked musical intelligence.

Would you prefer people be able to see color or taste food when they listen to your music?

I've never actually thought about music in terms of food, maybe a spicy chord but nothing more detailed than that - A color, or more appropriately an animation, picture is more what I usually try and shoot for.

Where were you emotionally when recording your 2019 release “'What Am I Afraid Of’”?

Writing and recording can take place over a long stretch of time (The first iteration for Thunberg was completed back in November 2018) as such, I'd like to hope some part of where i'm at gets represented or imbued in the music in some capacity as it all comes together.

What compels you to keep writing and making music?

In simplest terms, I really enjoy the whole process from the initial demo being assembled with duct tape to the finished product with all it's bells and whistles. The whole genesis is really exciting.

Who did the album artwork for “'What Am I Afraid Of’”?

I end up doing all the artwork, at least I have so far. I had briefly put feelers for an outside artist but I wasn't impressed by the work they had come to me with.

What is your favorite outfit to wear when performing and why?

The best thing one can wear is whatever they're comfortable I feel - I've nothing against stage outfits or something similar however i'm quite uncomfortable enough when performing in front of other people, I should not make it worse elsewhere.

Who would be your dream director to collaborate with?

Either Panos Cosmatos or Denis Villeneuve - I have no illusions that it'd be an absolute train-wreck, but it'd be a wreck I really enjoy being part of.

How do you translate your sound to a live performance?

Hymns in a live capacity is kind of a tricky thing - I have always written outside the realms of what is really feasible for any band, whether it's having 4 or more guitar parts or including multi-tracked keyboard parts,vibraphones,strings,etc. The end result being that it's required to boil these songs down to core components of one guitar (With the assistance of a looper pedal), bass & drums. This however, opens the option where there is a number of missing components in the songs that can be pulled back in and re-injected in new contexts (e.g having the bass play the a variation on what might have originally been played on a glockenspiel, etc.) This allows for a wholly different kind of improvisatory openness that I would hope make each performance a little more interesting.

What is the best piece of merch you have ever bought?

A Tour poster from Godspeed You! Black Emperor's recent East Coast tour. It's spent most of it's life under the couch waiting to get framed and I really should get around to putting that up somewhere.

Can you remember the worst nightmare you ever had?

I had one dream, I don't know if I can call it a nightmare outright, but an asteroid was headed for the earth and I had slept in (As i'm prone to do) leaving only myself, my dog Lucy and the cast of Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker to remain on the earth until it's inevitable demise.  As it where, this ended up being the inspiration for my track "For Lucy". I can't quite explain why the cast of that movie where there, but I remember that much vividly.

Has living in NYC impacted your songwriting? If so how?

Either fortunately or unfortunately, it hasn't really been an impact to me.

Do you see a correlation between tempo and emotion? Does this come into play when writing music?

There's definitely a connection between slower music and songs having a sadder feel (Case in point, Doom Metal). More to the point, there is likely a biological explanation why feeling there should be a relation between slow songs and feeling sluggish itself.

If you could move anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

Somewhere in New England or the Pacific Northwest,Living in a small town out in the boonies however, might not be all I've romanticized it as.Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Keep on fighting the good fight, support the arts.