Retro Music Exclusive: Hounds, Fliers (LP)
Fliers is an electronic music album available only at Retro. It features Incredibox beats and mods, Substack embedding, and mixes and curations by Seth Abramson. It is the second album from Hounds.
Fliers Liner Notes
The goal with Fliers was to take a significant step forward from Transpecific, and to do so by trying out components of the materials available to me I hadn’t yet touched—in essence, experimenting (pursuing fliers) in a way that I hadn’t on the first Hounds LP.
Hopefully the greater sophistication of Fliers can be heard on tracks like (in particular) “Eagle”, “Bullfrog”, “Squirrel”, “Sparrow”, and “Cuckoo.” But almost everything here (with only “Blue Jay” and “Cardinal” excepted) is intended to be at least an embryonic song as opposed to the self-acknowledged “soundscapes” the Transpecific LP featured.
The album title comes also from a special interest I had, sonically, while making this album. I was focused—to my surprise—on bird-whistles and animal sounds, perhaps due to my interest in the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (a band whose influence you can hear on “Eagle”) but even more so contemporary instrumental/post-rock bands like Ratatat (whose “Wildcat” I’ve listened to more times than I can count; check it out here). So most of the tracks below are named after creatures that can fly (or in some cases, leap).
I’ve always thought it’s important to be willing to be a beginner in public, and to travel with the hope that the next leg of the journey will be easier—and quite simply, better—so that’s very much the attitude I’ve taken with this ongoing Hounds project. Indeed, I’m already at work on a third Hounds LP, tentatively titled Midnight and intended to be more meditative than Transpecific or Fliers while still (as Fliers) being song-oriented.
With all that said, I hope you enjoy the music below! And don’t forget to check out the Incredibox visualizations for each song—some of them are really something to see.
Prologue: Hounds, Transpecific (2023)
If you haven’t yet listened to the first Hounds LP, you can do so here. The album cover is below.
Fliers Track Listing
Thanks for sharing your creative process, all tracks are pleasant listening. Cuckoo is a good one-- I’m partial to that whistling-- like an old western, but w a contemporary storyline :) J.