“Intellectually I can try to justify it as an exploration of the desperate mental need to rationalise and accommodate another person’s commitment phobia…”
Explore the down-to-earth tunes of Hilz’s ‘Lie in Grey,’ a track-by-track journey that unfolds its relatable melodies.
Opening with ‘Lie In Grey,’ the EP pays homage to early 2000s pop rock, creating a laid-back atmosphere with a telephone-filtered vocal and live crowd sounds.
‘Seen,’ the EP’s second track, navigates the complexities of early relationships against a chill tropical house beat. ‘Daddy Issues’ follows as an angsty millennial rock anthem that came to life spontaneously, offering a straightforward expression of modern relationship challenges.
In ‘Not This Time,’ Hilz effortlessly blends influences from Green Day and All-American Rejects into an easygoing tapestry, showcasing her knack for catchy melodies. The EP wraps up with ‘Circles Acoustic,’ a raw, one-take reflection accompanied by the calming sounds of rain and wind.
‘Lie in Grey’ is more than an EP; it’s a straightforward musical journey, a collection of emotions and influences seamlessly woven together, establishing Hilz as a relatable storyteller in the contemporary music landscape.
Lie in Grey
The title track is a kind of homage to early 2000’s pop rock – Taxiride we were especially thinking of. We made a bold late choice to put the opening vocal through a telephone filter, so we could draw the listener in with a chill start, and then really try to make the chorus pop.
There’s also some crowd noise in there to stay true to how the song sounds live, and really make the listener feel as though they are at a Hilz gig – although I think the boys’ live harmonies might be even better than the recorded ones!
Seen
Seen was the first song written for the EP, and actually the first song Al and I ever wrote together. I came up with the chorus during Covid lockdowns, when dating was made even more complicated if not impossible.
It’s really about the early skirmishing in a relationship, where one party thinks the other wants it to be more advanced than it is.
It’s perhaps reflective of a time where we were all a little uncertain and not the best at communicating with each other.
It took us quite a bit of time in studio to figure out how the track was supposed to sound – the beat is really in the ‘tropical house’ or reggaeton style, so I guess Seen is our attempt at an entry into the ‘sad banger’ genre.
Daddy Issues
Daddy Issues is the angsty millennial rock anthem of the EP. This was written in about 20 minutes, and basically started as a joke when Al and I were comparing notes about recent situationships and observing some similarities…it was quite a cathartic experience to write it at the time.
Intellectually I can try to justify it as an exploration of the desperate mental need to rationalise and accommodate another person’s commitment phobia…but really it’s just a 3 minute middle finger to some, let’s say, ‘difficult’ folks we’ve encountered, and a very fun song to play live.
We started to end every gig with it, and the crowd response was proof enough that this had to be on the EP.
Not This Time
Sometimes the lyrics come first but with this track it was the melody. Al wasn’t a fan but I was persistent! Catchiness is key. This one has a few inspirations – some Green Day and All-American Rejects, and more recently a little Olivia Rodrigo – and we both thought the line ‘if I run into you, I’ll probably screw you’ was too good to pass up.
Circles Acoustic
Super raw and tracked in one take. It’s just my voice and Al’s guitar. After all the time finessing everything in the studio our producer Levi encouraged us to decompress a little with this one, and tie it all together with a take on our first single.
If you listen closely you can hear some background noise, including the rain and wind outside. It was interesting to explore how far we’ve come as performers of our own music, and thematically Circles remains very on-brand with the rest of the EP. Next time we will write some love songs!
