THE SOUTH HILL EXPERIMENT RELEASE NEW DOUBLE A-SIDE "WATER WATER" / "THE DRAIN"
“Baird and Gabe have a profound understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses, thought processes and sensibilities… They step in to elevate each other during moments of self-doubt and, similarly, use their discretion when putting new concepts under the microscope.” - Clash
"A beautifully dissonant set of jazz-folk dynamics..." - KCRW
“Water Water,” the first single from The South Hill Experiment’s new double A-side, begins with a keyboard riff so wistful it might just make you daydream on the spot. Here, the brothers Acheson catch their reflection and ruminate on the cycle of death and rebirth: “Seed becomes a tree/Becomes a home that she can leave/Because a feeling underneath says/We held on too long.” This music is as warm as the puce of a California sunset, suggesting the freeway in early evening before the headlights come on: the coming coolness, the glare off the buildings downtown. The pentatonic refrain, so pensive here, could just as easily suit a Tupac beat. The languid, ride-heavy groove suggests the same. “Water water, waves and tides/Don’t need a purpose, so why should I?” they sing together at the end.
Meanwhile, “The Drain,” the second single here, tells us where all that water is headed: “Lower and lower, I circled to nowhere…” Straight into the clinking pipes. This one is all rhythm section, anchored by a kick-and-rimshot groove and thick bassline worthy of Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay. Head-bobbing, psychedelic, the middle section sounds refreshingly like one of those acid-fried instrumentals from The Soft Bulletin. Headphones recommended.
Both tracks come on the heels of last month’s “Silver Bullet,” which was named “Today’s Top Tune” by KCRW. Versatility is the name of the game with these releases. Baird and Gabe relish in pairing modern pop songwriting with esoteric production and vice versa. Easy hooks marry fucked-up drum sounds. Ballads morph into funk workouts. For the South Hill Experiment, balance is key. “I think you can get away with some really dynamic production or compositional or lyrical ideas if they're dressed up in a great song,” Gabe says. These tracks—enigmatic, immediate, fresh-sounding—foreground what makes this band so rare. It’s hard to make experimental music sound this easy.
Since the release of their debut album MOONSHOTS (2023), Baltimore-born brothers Gabe and Baird Acheson have labored toward sounds both remote and familiar, remaining committed to recording as a medium and the studio as a tool for a unique kind of multitrack expressionism that slots alongside the decade’s most progressive pop music.
For much of the 2020s, the Achesons have worked in Los Angeles at the bleeding edge of contemporary pop production, having earned their fair share of notable credits – songwriting for Danny Brown (and making a cameo in one of his videos), collaborating with Maxo, producing for Arlo Parks' My Soft Machine, opening for Dave Longstreth – while releasing expansive, exploratory solo LPs as Goldwash and BAIRD.
2024’s SUNSTRIKES incorporated guests like Jeff Parker and earned the band a co-sign from the legendary David Byrne. On the heels of sold-out dates in LA and New York, and a live performance on KCRW, the brothers are gearing up to release even more new music in 2025.
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