by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Hudson Valley’s Battle Ave are at their most dynamic throughout I Saw The Egg, their upcoming full length album, and first in seven years. While the band released a fantastic EP last year, the quartet’s latest gives them room to stretch, using the structure of the record to travel each rabbit hole, developing their mix of folk tinged Americana, fuzzy alternative rock, and twangy indie in slow motion throughout the album. Each song brings something a little different, painting the cohesive whole of the record and it’s gentle nature through songs both propulsive and meditative. Due out April 1st via Totally Real Records (We Are Joiners, Nihiloceros, The Planes) and Friend Club Records (Hey Thanks, Caterpillars, Eugenius), Jesse Doherty and co. have teamed up once more with Kevin McMahon (Real Estate, Pile, Parlor Walls) to record at Marcata Recording, a studio that has become a second home for the band.
With four singles out in the world already, from the haunting “Core” and the breezy “Fool,” to the acoustic sweetness of “Maya” and the emotional heft of “Leo,” the album makes a great case for sonic diversity and the fragility of life, but perhaps all the album’s themes are best captured on the record’s title track, “I Saw The Egg,” one final preview of the record ahead of its release. The song is quiet and contemplative, a short and serene piece of music, that whirs with a permeating synth and Doherty’s vocals quiver at it’s most brittle. As he recalls a set of images occurring in an empty room, they reflections are shattered by the realization of the song’s dream state and the final line, “what can I do when you’re telling me to wake up?” It’s upon that moment that the song’s composition blooms, introducing a wider array of guitars, synth, and experimental clangs of percussion.
Speaking about the song, Doherty shared:
"Just a cute little song. I think I wrote this after listening to the LVL UP song “Hoodwink’d” and realizing songs could be short and sweet, and didn’t need to be epic to be effective or evocative. Of course, then I got into my head and wrote a whole extended instrumental outro because I can’t ever get the hell out of my own way. In a way, it acts as the thematic centerpiece of the record... in 2 minutes it glosses over the major themes I consider at length on every other song: questioning of goals and priorities, feelings of insecurity and jealousy, and a desire to be accepted by others."