Biography
As Hitchcock’s third record—following 2015’s By Ghosts—named after the haunted piano he claims wrote those songs, and hailed as “a stunning journey into Hitchcock’s emotional landscape… never a wasted musical moment” by Baeble Music and “nothing short of absolutely gratifying” by Ear to the Ground—and 2019’s To All the Sailors We’ve Lost—heralded as “instantly memorable” by Hot Lunch Music and having “flowing lyrics and a sound absolutely gorgeous to the ear” by Audiotox—both of which received airplay on over one-hundred college and independent radio stations across the United States and Canada within a month of release—it builds off of prior language and aesthetics—the “tapestry of the Paper Anthem shared universe,” as he calls it—yet introduces many topics new to the existing canon. Among the 11 new tracks are themes like body dysmorphia, immigration, the erosion of friendships, and a story of lovers trapped within a telepathic dream singularity.
Many of the songs written for the album date back to 2016, when Hitchcock was going through a difficult time emotionally and personally: “My life had fallen apart… I had to move back home and get a job at Walmart. I got a little too into conspiracy theories. I became totally isolated to everything that keeps someone human.”
Forced by the pandemic to end an extended trip to Europe early and return home again, Hitchcock can’t help but draw comparisons. “2016 was a bad year for a lot of people, personally and politically, and 2020 has been a bit of a repeat for everyone too. These two years had a huge impact on, first, the writing, and then, later, my reflection on the compositions… I originally titled this album ‘The Conduit’ because so much of it seemed to be about change: the way you see a lover, the way you see a friendship, the way you see yourself, the way you see your country… The new title had more impact—a reminder of the time that change takes, and the fact that this exchange of sand is permanent,” says Hitchcock.
The album was recorded across a number of years, mostly in California. Hitchcock began tracking the album in Oakland in 2017, but also recorded a bit in Los Angeles in 2018 and Kent during the summer of 2019. The album was then mixed (Kristofer Harris, Ghostpoet, Belle and Sebastian) in the summer of 2019, and sent to London for mastering (John Davis, Foals, Snow Patrol) before lying in wait for another year and a half. For The Year, Hitchcock chose to collaborate with two producers, Christopher Daddio from Oakland art-rock quartet Everyone Is Dirty, returning after producing Hitchcock’s second release, and Fraser McCulloch, the creatively frenetic LA-based producer of bands Chaos Chaos—including their cult hit track Can You Feel It?, notably featured on Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty—and Milagres.
“I’ve been a fan of Chaos Chaos for years, and they let us record in their rehearsal space, which was surreal for me. [Fraser] takes every note, every percussive impact so seriously, and I really appreciated that attention to detail, making sure every single layer is perfect before moving on. He totally changed the way I write songs… now I try to construct works from more of a pop perspective, if appropriate.”
“I think my first two albums have a lot of hope for the future—about finding the right person, getting to the right place. This one is just about devastation and destruction… All there is is going through the negativity, getting away from it, forever changed. Coming out of that, and hopefully being a better version of yourself, is what this album came to mean to me as I put the songs together, and I hope others can relate to it.”
