Indie band Hovvdy confronts Nashville ego death on new album ‘Big World’

“Here come the pints.”

The indie duo Hovvdy wanted to meet at a bar to talk about their new album. With the smell of corned beef in the air and Van Morrison on the speakers, Will Taylor and Charlie Martin, raised a couple glasses of Guinness into the air at 2 in the afternoon on a Tuesday at McNamara’s Irish Pub in Donelson.

“Cheers, boys. Cheers. Look at this beautiful pour right here.”

Two years ago, Hovvdy released their self-titled album. And it is a masterpiece. Martin says that when they went into the studio, their producer, Sarlo had a concept, “he described it as lo-fi in IMAX.”

Metacritic.com aggregated reviews across the internet and deemed that it had achieved “universal acclaim.” As a self-titled album, it tells the story of Hovvdy.

‘For the love of the game;

Martin and Taylor met at a house show at the SXSW music festival in Austin in 2014 when they were just out of high school.

“The first time we officially hung out we went the ramen shop that Charlie worked at. That night we exchanged a couple songs and drank probably, like, an 11% IPA and stayed up till 4 a.m.,” Taylor said.

At that time there was a little indie movement happening. There were bands like Frankie Cosmos, Porches, and Alex G making songs that sounded close and intimate. 

Hovvdy formed their band without really thinking too hard about it.  ”We weren’t necessarily clouded with the expectations of a career or of a major label or even internet expectations. We had the freedom to really just do it for the love of the game,” Taylor said.

It was pure. Playing shows simply because it would allow them to play more shows.

“I am grateful that we had the freedom to kind of explore, have fun, and keep our other jobs, you know?” Taylor said. “That was the main thing, we were working otherwise. It wasn’t just music.”

Big moves. Big world.

The self-titled album captured them looking back with nostalgia. And with that critical success, and the passing of time, that period came to a close. They were six albums in.

Now what?

They moved to Nashville. They’d signed a publishing deal and started pitching songs to big artists in boardrooms. After a long time of making music for the love of the game, they found themselves playing the game. “You know you grow up, you get closer to mid-life and you don’t really have the luxury of not grappling with the big world and big responsibilities,” Martin said.

There is a specific ego death that many musicians feel when they move to Nashville. Everyone is trying to make it in the music industry. Taylor said the most boring thing you can do in Nashville to make music. They saw their friends get big bookings.

“You constantly get reminded to think you’re not cool because, like, your friend’s playing Bridgestone or something, but you gotta just take the wins.”

One day Martin sent a text to Taylor. It was just two words. “Big World.” That became the title for their new album.

“The older you get it becomes more difficult to tap into that freedom. … or even the thought that you kind of understand the world or yourself,” Taylor says.

The more you know the more you know what you don’t know.

The first song they released is “Try Try Try.”

“[It] is really about self-reflection. Not feeling like you’re enough. It’s like that’s also applicable in my marriage and in my career. There’s times where I’m like, ‘What the heck am I even doing going on the road for three months when I have a kid?’ ” Taylor said.

“Speaking of ‘Try, Try, Try,’ that song feels almost like a mission statement for the band,” Martin said. “It’s just like we just kinda keep at it, keep our head down, keep making records, keep using music as a way to cope with being alive in the world.”

The critically acclaimed self-titled album was who they were. “Big World” is who they are right now: two guys who contain multitudes, experiencing the joys of marriage, difficulties of life, and the hope they have in the world.

“I realized this last week: I had this thought that this record, it has our quietest Hovvdy song,” Martin says, “the loudest, the slowest, and the fastest.”

His bandmate nods along.

“It’s true.”