The themes of Hullo’s two new singles, “Homesick” and “So You Called” are going to resonate with a lot of people right now. Focusing on self-imposed isolation and a desire to challenge his own passiveness in life and relationships, Hullo’s Nicholas Bendzsa managed to get an impressive head start on this pervading sense of ennui by about four years.
Four years is a long time to hold onto anything, let alone our creative darlings. They’re intangible, mercurial, and adaptive right up until the point that they’re committed to another medium. A story drafted a decade ago isn’t likely to resonate in the same way as it did at its moment of conception, and a song can lose its edge. Sometimes honing these can only get you so far before you’re only seeing the forest for the trees. Ultimately—simply—things often work when they work.
“I never felt satisfied with either of them, so I would always be making changes or re-recording different arrangements. My live band at the time would always get annoyed because I’d come into each jam with an alternate version to learn,” laughs Bendzsa.
“I recorded the final versions right before the pandemic hit, with Romesh Thavanathan (Hey Rosetta!), because I realized that I had to sit down and finally put them out or I’d be working on them forever. It was really great working with him, but we weren’t able to finish completely before our lockdown started. So, I brought them home to add some finishing touches.”
Bendzsa adds that those very themes tie back into the reason it took four years to get the single out, as they directly contribute to cluttering the creative process. Ultimately though, he was able to use that process, much like journaling, to learn how to be more honest with himself through music.
“I think that I spent a little too much time refining these songs,” says Bendzsa. “Something I’m working on with my new music (and myself) is allowing my feelings and impulses to dominate the recordings, and to be able to express that in the present, and not through hindsight.
“For a long time, I would look back on personal and musical memories through rose-coloured glasses despite not having been as present in the moment as I would have liked. I think I’m taking a different approach to life and art now. At the same time, I also really value the experience of being able to reimagine and rediscover myself through new interpretations of old feelings.”
Both new singles are playful examples of dream pop; they’re quirky and fun, as if Brian Wilson had been asked to compose jingles for daytime TV game shows in the ’80s but just couldn’t quite get in the mood for it. There’s also a hint of Mike Patton’s electronic rock side-project, Peeping Tom, but that in itself is hard to pin down.
Hullo is currently at work developing a new EP which is expected to see release sometime this Fall. In the meantime, a short series of live videos with different live arrangements is being produced with a release expected this Summer.