Today, songwriter and podcast host Hrishikesh Hirway releases second single "Rollercoaster" (ft. Uwade, Fenne Lily) from his upcoming record In the Last Hour of Light, due out April 24 on 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.
“Rollercoaster” is a meditation on longing and displacement, built from two images that lodged themselves in Hirway’s imagination: the buffalo of Catalina Island, brought there by ship in the early 20th century and stranded ever since, and the vision of someone riding a rollercoaster alone. Co-written with Fenne Lily and Uwade, the track finds Hirway placing himself back in Massachusetts, feeling out of place and full of dreams he can’t yet name, asking whether you can miss somewhere you’ve never been. Both Lily and Uwade contribute vocals, as does Ken Pomeroy, their combined voices lifting the song toward a feeling of lightness and air, a counterpoint to the loneliness at its center.
“I started to think of the image of a person riding a rollercoaster on their own,” says Hirway. “It struck me as terribly lonely because of its juxtaposition against a supposedly fun thing, and that juxtaposition felt deeply, painfully familiar.”
Hirway has also confirmed the special guests who will join him on a set of upcoming tour dates, including Adam Scott in New York, Jason Mantzoukas in Los Angeles, Samin Nosrat in San Francisco, Josh Malina in Chicago, Min Jin Lee in Boston, and more. A Concert and Conversation with Hrishikesh Hirway and Special Guests will consist of a moderated talk with a noted guest (musicians, authors, filmmakers, podcast hosts) about his songs and where they came from, followed by a live performance. Additional guests will be announced soon. See below for full tour routing and visit hrishikesh.co for more information.
Produced by Grammy-nominated Phil Weinrobe (Big Thief, Adrianne Lenker), the new LP is a memoir about letting go—of people, of memories, of the desire to stop time from moving too fast. The songs were born in the wake of Hrishikesh's mother's death, as the years since push her further into the past; in the moments spent waiting for his father to recover in his hospital room; in the dream of a daughter that he will never have. There are love songs, too—but the kind of love that has the patina of a long-shared life, where there is as much time behind you as there may be left ahead.
The LP is Hirway's second collection of songs since releasing music under his own name, and the first long-play collection. Previously, he released music under the name The One Am Radio. After writing, producing, and playing almost all the instruments on The One AM Radio albums, Hrishikesh had a long hiatus. In the 15-year space between his last album and this one, he created and hosted Song Exploder, an award-winning podcast and Netflix series where he interviews artists about their work in forensic and emotional detail.
After a decade of being in creative dialogue, he wanted to bring that same sense of intimacy and collaboration to his own music. In addition to working with a producer and players Shahzad Ismaily, Ken Pomeroy, Mike Haldeman, Joshua Crumbly, Oliver Hill, Sean Mullins, and Cole Kamen-Green, Dustin O’Halloran, Jon Natches (of The War On Drugs), Daniel Hart, Melina Duterte (of Jay Som), El Kempner (of Palehound), his co-writers on these songs include Kevin Morby, Vagabon, Fenne Lily, Jenny Owen Youngs, John Mark Nelson, Ken Pomeroy, Uwade, and TOMI. What emerges is a soundtrack for dusk—the moment when we can see the present begin to slip into the past.
Hrishikesh Hirway releases In the Last Hour of Light April 24 via Keeled Scales.