About this episode

Hrishikesh Hirway discusses his new album and the unique recording process behind it.

Hrishikesh Hirway, host of Song Exploder, returns with his first album in fifteen years, In the Last Hour of Light, made under a premise that's almost contradictory for a podcaster built around isolated stems: session players who had never heard the songs, vocals tracked live in the room, no click track, and no overdubs. The layered style that defines current pop production is itself a relatively recent development. Hirway's record reaches back to the older live-tracking tradition that shaped the 1950s and 60s Bollywood recordings he grew up listening to in his parents' house. The album is about memory and so it’s appropriate that the music is recorded whole in all its beautiful imperfections. Songs Discussed Hrishikesh Hirway "Things Change Even Now" Hrishikesh Hirway "Stray Dogs" Hrishikesh Hirway "The Ocean" Hrishikesh Hirway "Home Movies" Adrienne Lenker “Anything” Chuck Berry "Maybellene" The Beatles "Twist and Shout" James Brown "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" Sidney Bechet "The Sheik of Araby" Les Paul & Mary Ford "How High the Moon" The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" The Beatles “A Day In The Life” Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody" Jacob Collier "With the Love in My Heart" Brandi…

People in this episode

Host: Hrishikesh Hirway

Topics covered

• music production
• memory
• live recording
• Bollywood
• pop music
• album discussion

Keywords

• Hrishikesh Hirway
• In the Last Hour of Light
• live tracking
• music
• album
• pop production
• Bollywood

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: In the Last Hour of Light, Things Change Even Now, Stray Dogs, The Ocean, Home Movies, Anything, Maybellene, Twist and Shout, Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, The Sheik of Araby

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