In 2020, Charlie Martin impulsively wrote T-R-U-E L-O-V-E in all caps across the top of what would become the title track of his and Will Taylors fourth Hovvdy album. The on-the-nose instinct encapsulates the LPs elemental look at relationships familial, romantic, friendly and that desire to capture them in a bottle. Since the creation of their last album, both Charlie and Will have married their partners. Will became a father.
A nod to their roots and a reach for more,True Lovematurely embraces the best of the duos hyper-genuine, chin-up qualities developed over the past seven years. Charlie and Will first met at a baseball game while touring with other bands, both as drummers. Back home in Austin, the pair connected over shared sports-centric upbringings in Dallas and, most prominently, likeminded batches of solo songwriting. The interlocking tracks would become 2016 LPTaster, introducing a comforting sonic push-and-pull continued in the innate melodies ofCranberry(2018) and the propulsive storytelling of breakthroughHeavy Lifter(2019).
Fourth albumTrue Lovefollows a surprisingly folksy and beautifully determined course, just hinting at the lo-fi layers of the Austin-based projects DIY origins. Co-produced by the genre-morphing Andrew Sarlo (Nick Hakim, Big Thief, Bon Iver), the acoustically-driven, forward-looking songwriters statement stamps Hovvdys debut with Grand Jury Music.
Charlie and Will add: This collection of songs feels to us like a return to form, writing and recording songs for ourselves and loved ones. Spending less energy consumed with how people may respond freed us up to put our efforts into creating an honest, heartfelt album.
Throughout 2020, the band visited Sarlos small Los Angeles studio to put down their biggest-sounding record yet. Trusted guidance freed Charlie and Will to play to their strengths on essential elements an upright piano, an acoustic guitar, a few keyboards. Songs harken to the duos Southern totems of Townes Van Zandt and Lucinda Williams, with longtime collaborator Ben Littlejohn adding pedal steel and dobro for subtle drawl. Will callsTrue Lovethe other side of the coin from past LPHeavy Lifters tweaked pop, reflecting instead on the sturdy strums of sophomoreCranberry.
Sarlo heard things in our individual production styles that we might otherwise feel self-conscious about, but he would lean into them, says Charlie. We knew we could come in with a very stripped-down acoustic guitar song and it would end up being expansive and vast. I felt really confident in letting this record be as tender and beautiful as we could make it, knowing there would always be a layer of darkness in there.
Blindsided embodies the bespoke Hovvdy balance. Charlies waltzing piano lines and classical bedding make way for punctuated vocal assurances. Wills textured guitar downbeats also softly power syncopated storytelling on Lake June. Channeling the warmth of new fatherhood, he repeats I love you so much at the songs center.
In the exuberant rush of title track True Love, Charlie references his oldCranberry-era song Colorful a wizened callback to a growing catalog, forever morphing in hindsight. Shaking off any nostalgic haze, the new albums immediate production places their detailed scenes surely in the present. Theres flashes of a magnolia tree, a Tom Thumb, a cross on a trailer. Around Again frets over the fleetingness: Memory wont let me take a picture / Turn to me and tell me youll remember.
Its about resiliency and appreciating the little moments, even when the big picture can be daunting, says Will. Im proud of how we let the songs and the feeling of the record do the work for us. Even in somber moments, the joy behind the music is noticeable, and thats what makes it special to me.
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