Artist of the Day - Hello June - written by Christopher Michaels

Playing at Pianos in NYC

West Virginia based Hello June’s latest self titled effort is what I would refer to as an
‘imagery album’. It’s the album you put on and are instantly transported to some other place
and time. For me, I found myself in a dimly lit roadside bar at 2am. Surrounded by red
Formica and sticky black leatherette. My cigarette slowly burns as the smoke gently lifts up into the atmosphere, headed into space. Hello June plays in the background becoming the soundtrack to this otherworldly moment.
Romantic imagery aside, what Hello June delivers is a solid, dreamy eight song album.

Songs filled with chorus laden guitars weaved together with inventive yet understated drums
and vocals rich with meaning and sentiment. The interesting part of the guitar sound is that
hidden beneath the shimmer are some over-driven tones that sneak up on you. This works to
great effect as Hello June like to make things build. Their first single ‘Mars’ is a great
example of this; you start out slowly but before you know it, and not even realizing it
happened, the song has taken flight. Vocalist/Guitarist Sarah Rudy sings “I’ll catch a plane or
I’ll walk there” in the opening moments of ‘Mars’. It seems the band wants to walk with the
listener first before taking off to new heights. The second single ‘Candy Rain’ puts this this
build up effect to great use, but the song also showcases Hello June’s ability to be both
uplifting and heartbreaking at the same time.

The album’s production is bare bones and natural, allowing the band’s personality to
shine through and allowing them to create an intimate, claustrophobic effect much like Red
House Painters 1992 debut ‘Down Colorful Hill’. The sparse production also allows the
dynamic between Rudy’s guitar and drummer Whit Alexander to come to the forefront. Rudy
and Alexander work together, playing off one another to create texture and angular rhythms
throughout the album. Their tasteful use of slide guitar adds atmosphere without being overtly
‘country’.

So if you are craving a dose of something from the heart not the head, let Hello June
fly you to some wonderful hidden corner of your imagination.

Christopher Michaels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s4wJWw4mx8

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