It would be strange to call the new Slow Hollows album a reunion, considering only one member is back after a 2020 dissolution. But, now serving as the name for Austin Feinstein’s recording and touring output, it does mark a reconnection to the project’s earlier work.
“I think just kind of having some time away from it made me kind of miss the project, and then also kind of form an opinion about it, which I never really had before, just because I’m sort of in it,” Feinstein says during a recent Zoom interview.
The new album, “Bullhead,” is a big departure from the previous Slow Hollows album, 2019’s “Actors.” Three different producers helped make “Actors” — including hip-hop star Tyler, The Creator. Now, Feinstein calls is “a computer-sounding album, poppy shit.”
“I just kind of wanted to I think maybe go back to the roots of music for me, like how I started. I just really wanted to make a guitar-centric album.”
Drawing from influences such as Elliott Smith, the material might also remind some listeners of artists such as Beck or Snow Patrol.
We chatted with Feinstein a day after his show at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn last month. Slow Hollows will wrap up its spring tour with a hometown show on May 10 at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles. Here are some more highlights from our conversation.
When did you decide that you would be releasing “Bullhead” under the name Slow Hollows?
I didn’t want to think about how it was going to come out too much. I just wanted to write the songs and just see if I could get myself into those songs somehow. In terms of releasing it, the smartest way turned out just to do the band name again because there was already an infrastructure there, so right before we went to the studio, I’d say like two months before, I decided to do that.
Did that decision have an impact on how you made the album?
It gave me a bit more confidence maybe. I think knowing that it was just going to exist as another Slow Hollows album kind of gave it more context, as opposed to just throwing paint at a wall and doing like a solo thing. You never know.
How was the show at Baby’s All Right?
It was great. I mean, New York is definitely kind of a meet-your-maker-type feeling when you play sometimes. There was an older crowd that was there. Usually it’s a bunch of kids. That was interesting but it went well. I feel like we are getting tighter as we do this tour.
Some of the songs on the album are very chill, for lack of a better word. How do you play those songs live and compete with people maybe talking or looking on their phones, as opposed to the listener at home listening on headphones or something, where they could be more locked in?
I think that we just turn it up a little bit live. I think we kind of embraced it, like you might as well be a little bit louder. And I think that we play really well a little bit harder.
Do you run your own social media accounts?
I run my own accounts.
Do you enjoy that?
I don’t particularly enjoy it. I think I maybe felt more confident in it when I was younger, and now that I’m in my mid 20s, I feel like for mid-20-year-olds, Instagram is not a good feeling. But I mean it’s fine. I’m not great at promoting things.
How did you initially connect with Frank Ocean?
That was through Tyler. I think Frank just wanted a collaborator that somebody like me, kind of a little guitar-type guy, so Tyler passed the message along.
So how did you connect with Tyler in the first place?
He was just a fan of our music for some reason and had reached out to us in 2015 or something like that, and we just kind of had a friendship going on.
In 2015 you’re still teenager at that point?
Yeah, I was 17 or 18.
When someone at the level of Tyler is reaching out, especially when you’re still a kid, how do you react?
I think I was really excited. It was cool. It was validating in a way.
You had those collaborations and a Coachella performance as a really young person. How do you feel you handled it and is there anything you would have done differently?
I probably would have tried to maybe enjoy it more. I don’t know. I mean it’s very overwhelming for all of those things to happen when you’re young, you’re kind of just like, what the fuck is going on? I would tell myself a million things, but alternately, what are you gonna do? It’s not like it was a bad time for me at all.
Photo by Elizabeth Klein
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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