Photo by Pooneh Ghana

by Dan Moffat

Will Taylor and Charlie Martin make up the self-described “pillow-core” duo that is Hovvdy. They’ve been playing blissful indie tunes with a Texas twang since the mid-2010s. Instrumentation began as dusty drum kits, guitars, and soft vocals, all mixed into a secret sauce that is reminiscent of friends/touring buddies Alex G and Lomelda. Since then, they have expanded their sonic palette by onboarding indie impresario and co-producer Andrew Sarlo. You may have heard Hovvdy on their international tours, or major indie playlists, or even sync’d in series such as As We See It and Catfish: The TV Show.

Hovvdy began humbly in Austin where they recorded much of their debut album, Taster. They recorded the tape themselves using just the iphone memo app. Taylor and Martin reached out to the taste-making indie record label Double Double Whammy for representation, but received no response. So, Hovvdy released their debut LP with a friend’s company called Sports Day Records instead.

Around a year or so after the Sports Day release came Hovvdy’s big break. Double Double Whammy finally reached out to Hovvdy to talk about Taster, a reissue, and a follow up LP. As Taylor puts it: “It was a natural progression of hoping for the best, putting the music out on our own, and waiting for something to happen… [Double Double Whammy Co-Owner] Mike [Caridi] found our record through a mutual friend or something.”

The sound from Taster has been largely the same across releases up to the 2019 release Heavy Lifter. It seems at this point Hovvdy started to hit a creative wall. For example, there’s is a decidedly simplistic and lofi-drum machine in the song “Mr. Lee” off of Heavy Lifter that feels like a band reaching their technical limits, but trying to pass it off as ironic.

Luckily, at some point around or after the recording of Heavy Lifter, Hovvdy sought to make a musical departure. Charlie Martin brushed up on his keyboard chops (his mom was a piano teacher), and they tapped in-demand producer Andrew Sarlo because of his work with Bon Iver, Big Thief, and Nick Hakim.

Beginning in 2020, Hovvdy began favoring a poppier framework that relies heavily on Charlie Martin’s keyboard work and producer’s Andrew Sarlo’s surreal mixes. Taylor says “[Sarlo] contributes a lot of the musical elements that are strange sounding, or driving, or atmospheric, or just something that might not sound like a guitar. He’s very experimental in that way, and does a good job of expanding and making the song feel bigger. Which is a great talent.”

You can first hear their collaboration on the double A-side single Runner/I’m Sorry in 2020, and subsequently on last year’s high-watermark True Love, through to this year’s single “Everything.” Taylor says “Everything” is about “being there for someone in the tough times. And [also] acknowledging too that while it might feel like you’re on top of the world, you’re on the ground too. [It’s about] staying grounded and staying loyal.”

Come hear “Everything” (and everything else on Hovvdy’s set list) when they sidle up to The Sinclair on April 29th. Tickets are available here.