I gazed at my watch one evening with the usual weariness that has come to accompany the ten o’clock hour. As the notion that married life is far more tiring faded into another bothersome realization, that I was late, fumbling through the couch cushions, laundry baskets, and refrigerator discovered my keys between a popcorn bowl, Wii remote, and the morning’s Mini-Wheats; and I was off to what became a favorite evening with INTOTHEHILL.

A tired producer sat happy at his console, encouraging a crank of the volume on an unheard gem, as I settled into a pot of green tea at the formal home of ITH studios. There with an eager artist, no more than a guitar switch and a tuning occurred before the session was underway.

I say volatile, probably, is an emo-savvy verbiage to provide the reader the dynamic quality of Tim Hanten’s “Eyes Like Aster.” Capturing the sonic distance from explosions to pin drops can pop peaks of pre-amps and make for an interesting work in condensing, but this evening’s success lied in some encouragement to work the mic a bit, to back off some; and then we were underway: three takes, three songs; Tim sang, we captured. Session#9 in digital documentation.

One can never help making comparisons. I so like them, anyway, and here found myself recalling “The Lindsay Diaries” in Tim’s softer moments. The tremoring, pitchy quality to it brought me happily back to the emotive genre as I’d first found it, before the whole muck of the mall from AE to HotTopic, “Dashboard” to “Black Murder Dahlia’s,” could claim they were hip enough to play it. Check the tunes, available for free download below, see if we agree as to Tim’s throughback emo-nymity.

As we loaded the station wagon (that’s how we roll, Hillsiders), mic cables forgotten, on our way to a very modest downtown, one short inquiry into who and what Tim’s “Eyes” was resulted in a fairly well rehearsed recitation of his myspace (here ), which, slightly condensed says: “Eyes Like Aster” started in 2006. I wanted to write songs that people could connect with on a deeper level, songs that weren’t quite so “physical” but still hit just as hard or harder with more, real, exposed, and deeper emotions. That’s what “Eyes Like Aster” is about.

Forty minutes later–interview over, groupie picked up, light levels checked, police vacant as far as we could tell, and cables in hand–the garage, Tim, a jittery-handed myself, Colin, and Gregory announced, with all the joy it always brings, “Audio rolling, Cameras rolling.” What became of it, we bring to you today. It’s our hope that you enjoy “Eyes Like Aster,” take the downloads, see Tim live somewhere wherever you are, and that you look around the site.

Thanks for stopping,

Riley.

Download Thanks Julia for the Memories but be Careful

Download Practicing Politics

Download Sky Lit

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 11:34 am and is filed under Sessions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.