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Tim Hill - Giant
Release date: Friday, February 10th 2023
Listening to Tim Hillâs new album, Giantâa rugged, tasteful batch of cowboy tunes and Americana ballads that feel forged out of the embers of a desert campfireâyou might assume that heâs been working on a ranch his whole life. Youâd be half right: Hill is indeed a rancher, working in the Orange County, California, area of Silverado, but heâs actually a relative novice when it comes to tasks like tending to horses and driving a tractor.
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He only just got the job since the pandemic started, inspired on something of a whim: âI always kind of thought I could work on a ranch,â Hill says. âSo I just looked around for some jobs and they had an opening.â
Hill is based in Whittier, California, where he was born and raised, and music has always been his guiding force. The son of a music teacher, Hill grew up playing various instruments in a formal manner, but eventually carved a niche for himself in local punk bands, before finding himself as an in-demand touring musician for artists like Nick Waterhouse and the Allah-Las. When the Lasâone of Los Angelesâs most beloved psych-rock bandsâdecided to start Calico Discos, their record label, they knew just the guy for its inaugural release: Hillâs solo debut, a 7-inch for the 2018 song âParis, Texas,â introduced him as an alt-country act to be reckoned withâand his full-length debut, 2019âs Payador, was an underground hit, with copies of the sold-out first run having gone for as much as $100 on Discogs.
Payador was âa simple and honest attempt at a first record,â according to Hill, which was done entirely at home on a four-track. When the project was finished, the fact was made quite cosmically clear: âIt couldnât have been more than a few seconds after the last take, the last overdub, the last cassette, that smoke began to billow from behind the four-track recorder,â Hill explains. So for his sophomore album, he decided that maybe it was time to upgrade the approach a little bit. Taking a drive down the 605 to Long Beach, Hill set up shop at Jonny Bellâs Jazzcats Studio, where he played all of the instruments himself, with the exception of two outside playersâone for pedal steel and one for violin.
The result is a record steeped in affection for artists like Randy Newman, Warren Zevon, and Neil Young, but reimagined through the lens of the modern cultural melting pot that Hill lives in. (âI feel like I'm always trying to just rewrite [Youngâs] âOut on the Weekendâ in some way or another,â says Hill, âjust because I like that feel so much.â) The choice of covers on the album speaks multitudes: Giant features a heartbreaking take on Townes Van Zandtâs âNo Place to Fall,â a festive, authentic take on JosĂŠ LĂłpez Alavezâs âCanciĂłn Mixtecaâ (which was notably covered by Ry Cooder and Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas), and two impressive takes on part of Johann Sebastian Bachâs âFrench Suites,â referred to by Hill as âFrench Sweet,â naturally. âMy dad only listened to classical growing up,â Hill explains, âso it didnât really mean anything to me then. But now I love it. I can listen to, like, Glenn Gould all day.â
All songs written by Tim Hill except French Sweet No. 3 in B Minor - J.S. Bach
Tim Hill - Vocals, Piano, Guitar, Vibraphone, Synthesizer, Drums, Bass
Corey Adams - Banjo, Lead Guitar, Harmonies
Philip Glenn - Violin
Brady Henrie - Pedal Steel
George Madrid - Pedal Steel
Ry Welch - Words
Engineering and Recording by Jonny Bell
JazzCats Studio Long Beach, CA & Whittier Pool House
But Hillâs original songs are the sturdy pickup-truck engine of Giantâsongs like âCalico,â a dreamy ride into the center of the sun, and the opener, âThe Clockâs Never Wrong,â a waltz that would get even the drunkest person at the bar to stand up and start dancing along: âI miss the good ole time when girls used to ask what car you drive,â Hill croons in that latter song, âand leave you with a hole in your heart.â On âCandlestick,â he takes his graceful chords and melody and applies them to a poem written by his friend, the artist Ry Welch. âIt was just one of those things where I didnât have to move any word around,â Hill notes. âI didnât have to cut anything out. It just fit perfectly in that music.â
Of course, thereâs also Giantâs title track, an operatic piano piece that presents a brief, episodic tale of the culture clash that occurs in so many forms in the U.S. these days. The song was inspired by the 1956 George Stevens film of the same name (itself adapted from Edna Ferberâs 1952 novel); Hill was enamored by the movie, and by James Deanâs performance in particular, in which he plays a ranch hand in Texas in the 1920s. âI really identify with that character now,â Hill explains.
Giant was the last movie Dean filmed before he died, and Hill has inherited a fitting ethos for what heâs trying to do with his album named after itâand with his whole career: âLike the string quartet on the deck of the Titanic,â he says, âIâd like to play something beautiful before the ship goes down.â
For more information contact Stefan.Hayes@v2benelux.com 
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