Who is currently in the band?
Me (Si Ritchie), Ed Bannard, Mike Wynette on drums from Skinny Sumo, Royal Gala and Bendigo Band, Ben Quine from the Invisible Orchestra, James Pheasant from the Golden Troubadours, and Si Howell
How does the song writing work in the band? Do you write individually and then bring the songs to the band or do you write collaboratively?
Myself and Ed tend to write it all together, then bring it to Mike to sort beats and then Ben to work on the horn parts. Then we work out a live band. We had a room at First Love Studios where we would set up keyboard and guitar with a mass of pedals and a phone for beats, and slowly the songs began to emerge. It was quite different to the first album that was written mainly with acoustic guitars and ukulele. This album most commonly is Rhodes and electric guitar, much more stripped back and minimal sound.
In the Depths came out five years ago. What have you been up to between album releases?
Getting bogged down in life. We spent ages promoting In the Depths, and then we took a break, started the album and scrapped it all, and then finally found the sound we were after.
Are you worried that people may have forgotten who you are?
Yes, I think we had hoped to find a bigger audience to be honest, but it's bloody impossible.
What was the idea with wanting to change your name a couple of years back? Did you feel that you were done with Hhymn and wanted to start from afresh?
That was a bit of an embarrassing debacle, wasn't it? Basically, Hhymn was always a bit of a weird name with the two h's, and it stuck. It was around the time we scrapped the new songs and felt like making a new sound, we thought a new name would work. I don't know what happened, but we ended up doing a drunken ballot at a gig and I'm not even sure the names we put in the ballot were the ones we planned. I wanted the Gentleman’s Cycling Club, and Ed wanted Queen, but we ended up with Lost Peaks. We tried to go with it – like a referendum with a surprise result – but no one seemed impressed, and we ended up like Prince having to refer to ourselves as 'Lost Peaks, the band formerly called Hhymn'. We just went back to Hhymn. Full circle. The sound of the record was a bit like that, we tried to depart as far as we could from our sound but in the end it still has a really familiar feel. You know it's us.
What are your hopes for the album?
That people give it a proper listen and appreciate it. And cry.
What were you listening to while writing and recording the album?
I was listening to Max Richter, John Hopkins, Clint Boom sound track stuff, Radiohead in rainbows…
<a data-cke-saved-href="http://hhymn.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-small-hours-2" href="http://hhymn.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-small-hours-2">In the Small Hours by Hhymn</a>
Where was the recording done and how long did it take to put the finished record together? What was the recording process like?
This time we recorded and produced the whole thing ourselves so it was a bit of a mission. We recorded it in a few different places – wherever we could get some space. Then we got Andy Wright (WSUOR) to mix half at his place and sent the other half up to the outer Hebrides for Pete Fletcher to mix at his studio.
What songs on the album are you most proud of and why?
I'm really proud of Wave, and that ending was actually one of the first things we wrote for this record. The Bearer is a beast came together really well, and it’s lots of fun to play live.
How would you describe the record to anyone reading this that may not be aware of who you are?
It's hard to describe your own record without sounding a bit like wrestler taking about themselves in the third person. I reckon you're better at doing that, Paul!
How can people get hold of In The Small Hours?
They can get a copy from us at our next gig, or visit our bandcamp page and download it or order a physical copy. It’ll be on Spotify very soon.
Is there any other music coming out of Nottingham that you’re enjoying at the moment?
The Invisible Orchestra, especially Ed's tune. Mikes new project, The Bendigo Band, The Golden Troubadours and We Show Up On Radar’s new stuff is great.
What are the band’s plans for the rest of the year?
We are going to play this gig and hopefully the record will gain a decent audience and allow us to go and play it to a few new people.
Hhymn will be playing at Nottingham Contemporary on Saturday 16 July 2016, free entry.
In The Small Hours, the new album from Hhymn, is out on Friday 15 July 2016.
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