by Seth Garcia

Hundred Waters is a band with a sound that hides little secrets deep within its dense layers. Expertly blended whispers of folk and electronic elements are ever-present in their signature ethereal sound.

The band is currently touring in support of their excellent new album, The Moon Rang Like A Bell. This is their sophomore release, and Hundred Waters seem to be finally earning some well-deserved attention. The album is Hundred Waters at their best, with endless subtleties to be heard in every song.

This time around they honed in on low-key grooves and murky filters while also focusing on darker melody lines. However, there are still songs with startling crescendos that burst with energy. The result is a foreboding, cooled off vibe that sits well in a dark setting. The whole thing could’ve been dreamt up by someone struggling for hours to get to sleep. Lead singer Nicole Miglis is much more up front with the vocals, which should translate really well live. Hundred Waters recently held a small festival in Arcosanti, a desert town, in celebration of their album release. Over the course of the weekend, they shared the stage with names like How To Dress Well (who also just released some good material) and Majical Cloudz. They’ll be performing this weekend at the Sinclair, and it should be an excellent show. We were lucky enough to ask them a few questions over the phone before they come to town.

Allston Pudding: First of all, congrats on the new record! It sounds fantastic.

Zach [Drummer]: Thanks a lot, man.

AP: No problem! What have you guys been listening to recently? Any good songs going on the ol’ summer playlist?

Zach: Hmm… It’s all over the place. We’ve got this new Lone record, which is really good. Let’s see… The Plastics, PJ Harvey, Elvis… a lot of stuff man, it’s all over the board.

AP: Has the tour been going well?

Zach: Yeah, it’s been awesome actually. We just finished three shows in Texas and one in New Orleans last night and they’ve all been really great, man. Like it’s definitely exceeded our expectations. We’ve haven’t done a headline tour in a very long time, really at all. We’ve done one before but it was pretty short and not very successful. We were just brand new and just didn’t really understand how this all worked. But yeah it’s great. People have been coming out and supporting and it seems like more people are actually listening to the record and connecting with certain songs and it’s really exciting to experience that and reflect on that.

AP: You all recently went to Arcosanti for your album-release show.

Zach: Yeah, that’s right.

AP: What inspired you to hold your concert there of all places?

Zach: Uh… do you know anything about that place?

AP: Yeah actually. I’m a big fan of the desert and that kind of thing.

Zach: Yeah, I guess it started from Paul. He studied architecture in college at the University of Florida. This place is definitely an architectural landmark, so it was on his radar for a long time. And Trey and Nicole had moved [DISCLAIMER: There was a brief moment here where my phone broke the connection. I have no idea where they moved to. It will forever be a mystery.] about two weeks before Paul and I, cuz we were gonna drive from Florida all the way over there. So while they were doing all the vocals and the final touches to the album, Paul and I drove and on the way, we routed Arcosanti.

So we stopped there, this is back in January, and it was just really special, not only architecturally. There’s just something really special about the air there, and we just kind of knew that we wanted to do something, but we didn’t know what the scope of it was. Paul and I talked to the residents, that night when we were there in January, and we told them that we were really interested in performing here at some capacity whether it’s just a little tiny thing on the way to South By or whatever and they were all about it, so we started talking via email for a couple months. And it started to line up where it was like ok, this is probably going to make the most sense right around the album release, and that idea just kind of stuck and we started inviting friends to jump on the bill with us and kind of evolve into something more amazing than any of us expected. And by the time the whole line up was realized, it was like wow, this is kind of like a mini festival. And then at that point we like pieced it together, which is like getting the campers and putting the word out in the right way, and deciding to make it this kind of weekend of music, and not just one night.

AP: Are you planning for it to be a running installment or do you think it was more of a one time thing?

Zach: It’s totally going to be a running installment. We’re definitely interested in doing it again, not only there but in different locations as part of the whole evolution of the whole FORM concept. It’s just something that we want to be able to bring, even multiple times a year. But Arcosanti in particular, we plan to go back there next year for Memorial Day weekend.

AP: That’s awesome.

Zach: Yeah, you should come. [laughs]

AP: Yeah… [laughs] I’m probably going to make plans for that. As a band, how did you approach the songwriting for The Moon Rang Like A Bell? What did you do differently this time around?

Zach: Um… it wasn’t really that drastically different. Nicole definitely took a larger lead in the composition selection and the writing of songs on this record. She got a lot more versed in production herself and using computers to make sounds. The last couple years being on the road, you kind of need to learn how to create on the go when it’s all you have. So that that was a big part of it. It was just like her comfort with using a computer.

AP: I noticed a lot of the acoustic sounds from the first album were kind of stripped away, and that you focused more on the digital side of your composition.

Zach: The songs on this record are just one collection of many songs that were being made. We have this backlog of like 30 songs as well. It’s a body of work that tells these particular stories. And there are songs that we’ve made over the past few years that are very, very acoustic sounding and there are some that aren’t. What you hear on The Moon Rang Like A Bell are just what felt like the best collection of those songs.

AP: Ok. I have one question for Nicole… I noticed that the lyrics are more prominent in the new album. Did they play a more personal role this time?

Nicole [Singer]: I think the lyrics on this album were more personal than the last one. I mean I think most lyrics are personal, maybe this one we were a little better at communicating, or trying to communicate a feeling. So think it came out a little more direct than the last one. But yeah I think maybe it was we spent more time on the songs finding out what I wanted to say. What I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it, how to express certain emotions.

AP: Yeah, I noticed how you layered less harmonies on your voice, and how you put one single voice more forward than usual.

Nicole: I really wanted there to be more of a melody, more of a song that I could just sing with one voice. It didn’t have to require a lot of harmonies or a bunch of voices around it. I think that also helped me focus on what I’m saying and sort of get rid of the noise around it all the time.

AP: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. I really appreciate it, I know you guys are pretty busy.

Nicole: Yeah we appreciate that you guys are into music, so thank you.

AP: Once again, congrats on the new record.

The Moon Rang Like A Bell is out now on OWSLA. And be sure to catch Hundred Waters at the Sinclair on 7/6. Tix can be purchased here.