Lighten Up with The Hails’s EP He Seems Upset
In the final days of August, Florida’s The Hails gift us with the summer EP we all deserve. The pandemic may have robbed us of the summer we dreamt of, but “He Seems Upset” is sure to bring some sun into your everyday life.
Robbie Kingsley, Franco Solari, Dylan McCue, Andre Escobar and Zach Levy met at the University of Florida. Since graduating and scattering across the country, there was no question the band would continue. As they matured, their sound did too.
That maturity took form in a focus, evident in “He Seems Upset”. Although the tracks are full of surprises, nothing feels out of place. Their indie pop sound includes seamless electronic and hip-hop variants. Driving beats accompanied with bouncy synth riffs give songs like “Sippin’ on the Daylight” and “Heartbeat” a sunny edge.
But the EP doesn’t offer blind, sunshine-and-rainbows positivity. Many of the lyrics wrestle with isolation and anxiety-- both issues exacerbated by the pandemic. It’s impossible not to relate. “Denial”, for example, condemns their habits of ignoring their mistakes and responsibilities. In “Heartbeat”, Robbie and Franco coo as they unwillingly accept loneliness, “You get some comfort in the darkness / … It’s okay, I don’t mind, you cannot even try in the end.”
Although Robbie’s vocals liken that of Dave Bayley’s (Glass Animals), it’s hard to pinpoint who they sound like. The band’s influences are hidden like Easter eggs. The gelatinous guitars in “Situations” struck me as rivaling The Strokes’s later works. But their inspirations vary vastly between the five. Robbie sited Mk.Gee and Tom Misch, while Franco answered Frank Ocean and Amine. Dylan professed that “No matter [what I make], there’s always a little bit of Radiohead in there.”
“If there’s one thing we try to emulate it’s more of [the fusion of genres] than one particular artist. We blend our interests to make something hard to put into one box,” Franco said.
The EP’s amalgamation of genres is almost too much, like a dessert that’s one more treat away from being too sweet. But The Hails don’t just toe the line well: they’re dancing on it.
“Empty Castles” offers a pause on the exuberant nature of the EP. Written by Franco, the song highlights an acoustic guitar and his lone vocals. When performed live, their audiences would have a “lights on, waving moment.” If you close your eyes, you can imagine being in that silenced crowd, swaying a light of your own.
“When Benji (band’s manager) and Andrew planted the idea of doing an EP -- we just thought, how can we make this a holistic representation of who we are right now? And [“Empty Castles”] just felt like it worked in the flow,” Franco said.
Who The Hails are is more apparent than ever on “He Seems Upset”. The group’s head start on being apart before the pandemic surely aided in solidifying their identity. Once they graduated, Robbie moved to Tampa, Franco to D.C., and Dylan, Andre and Zach relocated to Miami. There was no more meeting up to jam.
“It’s made us explore different methods of songwriting individually and more of the production side of things. That’s definitely helped the maturity of the sound,” Dylan said.
Mature, but still full of risks. For one, the EP features a remix directly following the original. “Heartbeat Pt. 2” is one of my favorites and it almost didn’t make it on the final tracklist.
“It was a very last minute thing. Throughout a weekend, it really grew on everyone,” said Franco. “That was a magic moment for us once we figured out this is the missing piece of the puzzle to tie everything together.”
To focus on the writing process, the band retreated to an Airbnb in south Florida but admitted they may have goofed off more than they worked. When finding a balance between the two, the friends find it comes naturally.
“The goofing off helps the music. Bonding, having fun together... ultimately makes us work better together and makes us like being around each other more,” Dylan said.
“We were arguing about merch the other day and it’s funny. We all heavily care about everything that goes into it but then, we also really care about the friendships and relationships at the end of the day, too. There’s no severing those bonds,” Robbie said.
The five members butt heads, even when discussing Halloween costumes (I suggested One Direction), but they always reach a decision they are each individually proud of. And “He Seems Upset” is something to be proud of. The Hails’ EP emanates the energy of something exciting, something big. I can’t wait to see more of the band for years to come. But until then, I’ll be taking this album with me on long, late-night drives and days in the sun.
Stream The Hails’s new EP He Seems Upset
Photos by Kat DeBarros