A radiant embrace of the present brimming with sweet guitars and tender harmonies, Hovvdy’s new single “True Love” is an intimate song of comfort and connection.
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Stream: “True Love” – Hovvdy
Spending less energy consumed with how people may respond freed us up to put our efforts into creating an honest, heartfelt album that spans a range of sonic landscapes, yet feels like a singular breath.
Austin, Texas duo Hovvdy have long used their music as a vessel for nostalgia and past exploration, but their latest single dwells not in what was, but what is: A radiant embrace of the present brimming with sweet guitars and tender harmonies, “True Love” is an intimate song of comfort and connection; of opening yourself up to the world and those around you, accepting yourself and your self-worth, and just maybe finding some kind of temporary balance within and peace with a world at rest.
Tell me how do you feel today
Woke up so down
Tired from sleeping
Like my old song
Colorful houses
They keep my head up
I’m still walking
You comfort me, Rosy
You comfort me, Rosy
Released July 13, 2021 via Grand Jury Music, “True Love” is the lead single and title track off Hovvdy’s forthcoming fourth album, True Love (set for release October 1st). Following 2019’s third LP Heavy Lifter and assorted singles and solo release, “True Love” finds Hovvdy reveling in (and reeling through) a brighter sonic space than usual. Given some happy tidings in both members’ personal lives, it may come as no surprise that their latest art has a hopeful, slightly more uplifting tint: Both Charlie Martin and Will Taylor got married over the past two years, and Taylor recently became a father.
But in classic Hovvdy form, nothing comes as easily as it seems – and for the Texan duo, that means the love in their lives gets a thorough dissection. Their upcoming album, co-produced by Andrew Sarlo (Bon Iver, Big Thief) and recorded at his Los Angeles studio throughout 2020, is a reportedly vulnerable and visceral affair – one that feels musically freeing, yet is nonetheless deeply philosophical and emotionally nuanced.
“True Love” embodies those qualities, finding the band reckoning with ideas of one’s value and belonging; of being deserving of love, and all that a loving relationship entails. The song isn’t necessarily distressed, but one can find moments of distress throughout its performance. Martin and Taylor spill their hearts and souls in an immersive, warm outpouring of inner turbulence:
Could I get used to this
If you let me?
Show off your new dress
Spin around for me
Like a blue sky I get up so high
You sure shine in the color
In that shade of pink
Rosy
You comfort me, Rosy
You comfort me, Rosy
You comfort me, Rosy
You comfort me, Rosy
“For each Hovvdy record there’s always been a song that kinda shocks my system, kinda jolts me into a brand new and inspired place,” Charlie Martin shared upon the song’s release. “This was definitely that song for me. I remember writing it and feeling a rush of excitement — crying a lot honestly. it feels so good to express love and appreciation when you really fucking mean it. but it’s hard to feel worthy of love, of something so rare, and all we can do is try to measure up — that’s what that last part [“Do you believe what I said, that I am the man I say I am?”] is all about.”
Hovvdy’s charismatic, DIY folk-inflected indie rock has long had a way of delving into the depths of emotion, but seldom have those emotions been on the positive spectrum. This may not be a “first” for the band, but it certainly feels like a fitting start to a new chapter. “True Love” carefully balances sun-kissed charm with the duo’s more familiar melancholy, and the result is a feel-good experience with heart and edge.
It’s calming and exhilarating all at once; an emotional rapture that wraps us in waves of warmth as Hovvdy weave spellbinding harmonies over a lush instrumental tapestry. For all that they find comfort in Rosy, we can find comfort within this song.
True Love is out October 1, 2021 via Grand Jury / Inertia Music.
Do you believe what I said
That I am the man I say I am?
Do you believe what I said
That I am the man I say I am?
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Stream: “True Love” – Hovvdy
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