Hrishikesh Hirway’s anticipated new album, In the Last Hour of Light, is out now via Keeled Scales. The album is his first full-length release under his own name, marking his return to making records after more than a decade focused on audio storytelling through his acclaimed podcast Song Exploder.
In the Last Hour of Light is a deeply personal memoir about letting go; of people, of fading memories, of the desire to stop time. Written in the wake of Hirway’s mother’s death and amidst his father’s hospitalization, the album’s eleven tracks reflect on loss, long-shared and fleeting love, and the everyday moments that shape us. Arrangements balance between quiet intimacy and spacious, Americana-tinted soundscapes meant to embrace the imperfection and unexpected qualities of being alive.
The theme of letting go extended to Hirway’s own historically tight sense of creative control, and he turned to Grammy-nominated producer Phil Weinrobe (Big Thief, Adrianne Lenker), who recorded the album live at his Brooklyn studio, Sugar Mountain. Weinrobe arranged all the players close enough so they could all hear Hirway’s vocals as they recorded, playing without headphones or click track.
