our new album is out!

It’s here!

I’m so thrilled to share this album with you. I could say many things, but I’ll leave it at this. I am proud of what we made. It helped me grow through a difficult time and come out a better person. And I am thankful for the family and friends by my side throughout it.

For context on the album, I suggest reading this amazing article by Columbus Monthly. I was floored by how thoughtfully it was written and how thoroughly it was researched. Hard recommend.

I think the album pairs well with a comforting drink of your choice, a comfortable place to sit, and about 40 minutes of sustained attention (for me, that’s a decaf irish coffee on the long mustard-yellow couch in front of my stereo). But that’s just me — you can enjoy it however you’d like to. (If you want it on CD, LP, or want some merch, it all ships for free today.)

Are you going to play these songs at some shows? — Yes!

We are celebrating with a release show in Columbus, Ohio with a seven-piece band at Rumba Cafe. It is on Saturday, April 13th and doors open at 5pm. We’re not night owls, so come join us for an early show, opened up by Chamber Brews.

We are also playing in Chicago on Saturday April 27th at Judson & Moore Distillery with Holy Joke and Marvin Stumbles.

After that, we’ll go to Germany to play a bunch of shows.

What comes next?

We’re lining up other shows after we return to Europe — reply to this email if you want us to come to where you live. And if you have any thoughts you’d like to share or questions that arise, send me a message through the website. I’d love to hear what you have to say

Wishing you well — I hope you get to see your family and friends this weekend (that is, if you want to see you family and friends).

Cheers,

Sam & Hello Emerson

new single and music video out now!

It has my first guitar solo. So like, let me know how I did?

But seriously, this is the climax of our newest album, due out on 3/29. I am incredibly proud of the whole album, and this song in particular. If you’ve liked our singles, be sure to share them with someone you think may enjoy them, and pre-save the whole album.

We also made this beautiful music video with our generous friend Kyle Lowry. We hit it off after he heard our song “Ohio” and we made this video together. I think it walks the line between mundane and magical — which is essentially our brand more often than not. I hope you enjoy.

Special thanks to the Greater Columbus Arts Council!

We were generously awarded a grant last year to help us produce and support this release. If you’re an artist, you know the strange space that this work can take up — always existing somewhere between vocation, hobby, career, passion, small business, frustration, joy, life-purpose, and productive distraction from day-to-day life. It takes money and time to make any kind of art and still live a balanced and sustainable life. We are so thankful for their support — and encourage you to apply for their 2024 Funds for Artists. They have rolling applications awarding up to $500 per artist. Please check them out if you are in Central Ohio.

Ok that’s all! Thanks for listening!

Sam & Hello Emerson

Listen to “Tupperware for Glass” today!

Our newest album starts with these two tracks. The whole album focuses on an event in 2017 that landed my father in the hospital for nine days, without any memory to explain why. This is about first hearing the news.

I remember that I got a call from Mom at work on a Wednesday. In a little office with a little window that looked out at the parking lot. And she didn’t really have any information. Just that she was on the highway driving up to the University of Michigan hospital. She called me to let me know, and to prepare me for when she called back later – either to tell me to stay home or to drive up.

Part of the difficulty of everything is that the event that led to his injury was a random accident while he was doing a random act of kindness. There’s nothing that anyone could do to prevent it. There’s no one to blame. We can do everything we can to avoid carcinogens, keep ourselves healthy, work out, eat well, and it is worth doing. But it also means nothing at the same time, because that’s just how the world works.

I hope you listen, reflect, and maybe share it with someone who’s been in a similar situation.

Be well,

Sam & Hello Emerson

this song is the collective effort of eleven people who decided that songs are important.

sam emerson bodary | songs, guitars, vocals, synths, production

daniel lawrence seibert | percussion, synths, arrangements, production

jack keating doran | keyboards, production

with chamber contributions from Knisely

evan lynch | clarinet

helen cates | violin

shine robison | piano

zach koors | vibraphone

and these thoughtful collaborators

benjamin ahlteen | bass guitar

tony rice | recording, mixing, production

glenn davis | mastering

featuring the voice of david lawrence bodary

recorded by StoryCorps

on july 14th, 2019

4-Track Cover | "Lua" by Bright Eyes

I remember there was a CD compilation from the organization Red Hot that was called Dark Was the Night. It had all of the 2000s indie heavy hitters on it. It was honestly an introduction to a lot of songs that would introduce me to some of my favorite songwriters. And there was a version of Bright Eyes’ “Lua” on it that had Conor Oberst — but it also had Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings. And I love that song, and it loved that specific version of that song.

So, this week I recorded a little version of it that’s inspired by Gillian and Dave’s interpretation, using a tuning that I found from The Tallest Man on Earth. So, if that sounds interesting to you, you can watch/listen to it here in full.

I love this song. Hope you’re doing ok.

Sam

a few thoughts on ”sun in an empty room” by the weakerthans (and a cover video)

“The things we need to say
Have been said already anyway
By parallelograms of light
On walls that we repainted white”

I met my bandmates in a mid-sized midwestern city by going to an open-mic near the campus of the state school that essentially drives our local economy through some combination of football and healthcare. I learned how to share songs and listen well, talk too much and settle down, and make a few friends. Jason was the host at the time, never far from a glass of red wine, and traditionally starting off the night with some fingerpicked folk. He played a Weakerthans cover somewhat often which took me probably over a year to figure out wasn’t his own song. It was just a gorgeous song that he played beautifully.

I found other songs by The Weakerthans after I got used to them sounding closer to The Hold Steady than Sufjan Stevens, which is sort of how it sounded when Jason played them (again, beautifully). This one always struck me. At a time when I and my friends were orbiting around campus from dorm to apartment to duplex in all sorts of roommate arrangements, I found some peace in packing my things into boxes, knowing that everything that I had could be distilled into something concrete. And the rooms left behind were sad but lovely. I always imagined that I had to say goodbye to songs that were left in that room that never got written, but hoped that other people might move in, find them, write them, and bring them to the world.

The song shares a title with an Edward Hopper painting from 1963. It’s an oil painting of sunlight hitting the walls and floors after streaming through a window. There aren’t any characters or people in it, but the light fills up the space. It makes me feel like I’m in my early twenties, starting to think I could figure it out some day. Maybe I would have time once I moved into the next 9-12 month lease.

I’m sharing a cover of this song this week from my orange couch, but I also cut a video using Hopper’s artwork paired with the song. I hope it finds you well.

Sam + Hello Emerson