The frontman of Los Angeles’ aptly named, Sid Hillman Quartet, since 1999, Sid Hillman first mentioned his debut solo album, ‘Oxygen’, in a blog post back in August 2022. Now, nearly 3 years later, that record has finally been released, with the stripped back and chilled track, ‘Even Things’. Both album and single dropped on the 2nd of May.
With four full length albums and one EP under their belt, released on independent labels in the US and Europe, the Sid Hillman Quartet have found their feet in the charts, and touring across Europe, Canada, and the USA. Sid moved out of LA and, in 2018 stepped away from all social media, and found that the music started flowing through him from that point. Soon enough, he had written enough songs for an entire album, and so he set about demoing them, shaping them into something that had a completely different vibe to what he’d written with the Quartet.
He sent the songs to the band, and, after not hearing back from them for a while, and the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic meaning that life was up in the air in any case, he randomly received a text form Mike Taklender, the drummer from the Quartet, telling him that he’d managed to get around to the songs and laid down some test drum tracks. Following this, he drove down to Los Angeles and recorded the songs in the studio, laying down guitar, drums, and vocals, with the studio’s owner and engineer, Andrew Bush, later recording the bass tracks.
While the actual album took perhaps fifteen days to record, with Sid having to drive 8 hours each way to get to LA, it still took nearly 3 years of co-ordination and financial timing to get it out. But now, ‘Oxygen’ has finally been released on May 2, this year, on both vinyl and digital, via Rare Bird Recordings (Sony Distribution).
‘Even Things’, the first single from ‘Oxygen’, is as raw and pure as to be expected from such a recording journey. Hillman’s vocals beautifully carry the sparse lyrics, while he tells a tale that can be interpreted in a number of different ways. One sees him telling the tale of a couple who realise they’re each other’s best bet. They stop trying to one-up each other, because the squabbles end up going nowhere. Another reading of the lyrics seems like a stand off between two people at the bar, seeing who can outpace the other. Still one more look over the lyrics, and it seems like a couple who’ve met by chance, and decide to throw in their lot with each other. Whether or not any of these are close to the truth of the story behind the song makes no difference; it’s testimony to a great song that it can resonate with a wide ranging audience.
‘Oxygen’, with ‘Even Things’, is out now, and is available here. You can find out more about Sid Hillman and his music on his official website.
