Very recently via Twitter I found the music and musings of Ironic Hill, or maybe the music and musings found me, in all honesty I’m not too sure. One moment this strange beautiful music wasn’t in my life, the next it was, and it’s compelled me to write this piece to hopefully get the word out just that little bit further.
When you first discover Ironic Hill you soon realise it’s more than just the songs. There is a blog containing short stories and beautifully descriptive gig reviews, and a Twitter account showcasing sketches and lyrics in addition to the intriguing, shimmering music that I write of here. Details on the creator of this work are scarce. There’s talk of struggle leading to eventual breakdown, and attempting to rebuild better, cleaner and stronger. It is clear from the off that this anonymous project is a massive part of that process.
The album itself is packed with sweetly melodic stories of domesticity and day to day existence, laced with the reality that such stories often carry with them a ton of baggage and confusion. The music is DIY in nature but not particularly lo-fi in sound or feel. A mixture of intricate guitar lines and barely contained feedback dance beneath plaintive but affecting vocals, providing just the right contrast between craft and fuzz to keep both songwriting purists and those in search of something a little weirder happy.
Highlights abound as the album progresses. Easy serves as a reminder of how often we can be our own worst enemy when faced with times of trouble. Mess provides a particularly poignant metaphor for the mental baggage we accumulate as we navigate life and its continuously shifting complexities, whilst Wish is a beautifully fragile anthem for anybody still trying to wrestle with any kind of dream as life does is best to wake you, often violently, at every turn.
Having this mysterious artist in and around my life somehow makes everything seem a little better for a little while. In these strangest of times when life can seem like an almost insurmountable struggle, it is a comfort to find music such as this to prove we are not struggling alone.
LISTEN/BUY/SHARE:
heavymetalkids.uk 