"Great plains! / Branded son! / Sage bush! Lightning seed! / Commemorative barnyard / Speak n spiel / I picture places burnt into wood..."
The smashing progressivity and swinging collateral artfulness of "It's Undeniable", by Boston, Mass alt rock / art punk Hallelujah The Hills, feels so present in it's short blast of abstract musical building as to feel like a sonic hit and run. Whether improvisational or built meticulously, it is a marvel of a sort of busker punk rabble rousing, even if the target might not exactly be known. The throttling bass lines, exquisitely magnetic drumming patterns, the distinct warbling guitar distortions, the raucous electronic transmissions and unworldly synthesizers provide the musical sandbox that Ryan H. Walsh shouts from. Walsh's vocal aesthetic, with an assist from Niani Campbell (Children of the Flaming Wheel ), is the provocateur casting a half spoken word rant, a truly poetic diatribe with socio-political verve (I think??).
"Great plains!
Branded son!Sage bush! Lightning seed!
Commemorative
barnyard
Speak n spiel
I picture places burnt into
wood
Aren’t you glad to see me in this golden hour?
Soundtracks built in my bones
I know you’re not my stepping stone
Smoke n ash sent me home!"
The sideways lean, the potency, the vintage double fisted aesthetics had me thinking of artists like Pavement, Lovejoy, Talking Heads, Erotic Secrets of Pompeii, The Murder Capital and in some way, maybe the biggest way, the utterly under-rated DEVO. Maybe singularly or an amalgam of all of these iconic artists if not sonically (exactly) but in artistic temperament.
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[“This song features the world’s first ‘Live Podcast Song Overdub,’” says frontman Ryan H. Walsh, referring to a spontaneous collaboration recorded live on the long-running Who Charted? podcast with hosts Howard Kremer and Brett Morris. Their voices now echo throughout the track in an unprecedented and surreal sonic moment. “Guinness Book of World Records, get at us,” Walsh jokes.
Adding another layer of richness to the song, Niani Campbell of Boston band Children of the Flaming Wheel joins the band for their signature gang vocals on the chorus. Her husband and Hills bassist Joseph Marrett reflects on the track: “Undeniably the world is a wild place; rubbery bandages, lying wires, and sidewalk schisms await to trip up our best intentions! Let’s engage the truths and find a path forward, shine a light if possible! It’s Undeniable!”
Recorded at Rare Signals in Cambridge, MA and mixed at Crooked Horse Studio in Providence, RI, “It’s Undeniable” features a collaborative ensemble including David Michael Curry on viola, Brian Rutledge on synthesizer, and richly layered textures of percussion, organ, and guitar.]
Adding another layer of richness to the song, Niani Campbell of Boston band Children of the Flaming Wheel joins the band for their signature gang vocals on the chorus. Her husband and Hills bassist Joseph Marrett reflects on the track: “Undeniably the world is a wild place; rubbery bandages, lying wires, and sidewalk schisms await to trip up our best intentions! Let’s engage the truths and find a path forward, shine a light if possible! It’s Undeniable!”
Recorded at Rare Signals in Cambridge, MA and mixed at Crooked Horse Studio in Providence, RI, “It’s Undeniable” features a collaborative ensemble including David Michael Curry on viola, Brian Rutledge on synthesizer, and richly layered textures of percussion, organ, and guitar.]
"It's Undeniable" exists as track 2 on the SPADES album, just ONE of FOUR full-length albums in their upcoming massive 52-song project, "DECK", available across music platforms on June 13th, 2025.
Just crazy and so impressive.
[DECK boasts an impressive lineup of musical collaborators, featuring a veritable who’s who of Boston rock and beyond, including Craig Finn (The Hold Steady), Ezra Furman, Patrick Stickles (Titus Andronicus), Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz), Tanya Donelly (Belly, Breeders), Clint Conley (Mission of Burma), and Cassie Berman (Silver Jews), Lydia Loveless and John Vanderslice, among many others. With string sections from Italy, choirs from Nigeria, and even a Scottish bagpiper, DECK is nothing short of a sonic and lyrical epic.]
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.hallelujahthehills.com/
https://x.com/jahhills
https://www.facebook.com/hallelujahthehills
https://soundcloud.com/hallelujahthehills
https://www.instagram.com/hallelujahthehills/
May 23rd, 2025 - Today, beloved Boston indie rock alchemists Hallelujah The Hills unveil their latest single, “It’s Undeniable,” a hypnotic and genre-defying track that marks the first release from SPADES, one of four full-length albums in their upcoming 52-song project, DECK, available across music platforms on June 13th, 2025.
Described by the band as a Rube Goldberg device of a song, “It’s Undeniable” is loaded with chant-like vocals, mysterious lyrical codes, and scattered samples that feel like transmissions from an unknown station. Its hooks grab hold and don’t let go, making it a fitting introduction to the ambitious DECK project, which features one song for every card in a standard deck, plus two jokers.
Hallelujah The Hills, Boston Mass alt rock stalwarts, massive 4 album release "DECK", "It's Undeniable" (Official Video), alt rock, indie rock, art punk, progressive, hybrid rock, fusion rock,
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