New Album – “Before We Begin” – Night Hawk

Washington D.C. based Night Hawk began as a songwriting experiment between Colter Adams and Peyton Semjen to compose songs inspired by the painter Edward Hopper. However, on the band’s superb debut album Before We Begin, the project has evolved into a reflection on their time growing up in New England while still retaining the artist’s aesthetics.

Released today, the 14 tracks compose a soundtrack for pivotal moments of transition stretching from early childhood to the present and vary from sparse indie folk (“Pale Blue”, “Something on My Mind”) to stadium-sized alternative rock (“Rest”, “Paper Receipts”, “Raincoat”). Adams and Semjen are supported by a range of talented musicians on Before We Begin: Emma Chun (violin), Courtney Burnett (drums), Alex Kozic (lead guitar), and Shea Sewall (bass).

Our favorite tracks are “Rest”, “Alone in the Summer”, “Paper Receipts” and “Scary Movie”. Have a listen to the record while finding out more from Colter and Peyton who we caught up with as they prepared for it’s release,

IDOV – When did you write/record the tracks?

Colter – We’ve been working on this album for about a year, although several of the songs pre-date our first EP, Everything Good Ends. We began writing and recording in Brunswick, Maine while we were still in college, and did most of the full band tracking in Asheville, North Carolina at Drop of Sun Studios with Colin Miller. We finished the last couple songs in D.C., where we are now based. 

IDOV – Was there an overriding theme or inspiration that you had for the album?

Colter – We like to say the album’s patron saint is Janus (the Roman god of beginnings, transitions, and gateways) because the songs recount our experience at the precipice of one of the biggest transitions of our lives and as a band; during the making of the album, we moved from college in Maine to Washington, D.C. The songs address all the hesitancy, pitfalls, and lingering nostalgia for the Northeast that came with that move and what felt like a very sudden whiplash transition to adulthood for both Peyton and I. Like most of our music, this album also drew heavily on the aesthetics of Edward Hopper’s paintings to convey the loneliness and uncertainty of feeling out of place and out of time between an old and new home. On that note- fun fact, our band name is an easter egg to the Edward Hopper painting Nighthawks. 

Peyton – The inspiration for this album came during a time of transition between adolescence and adulthood- in those awkward years where you’re still anchored to your past, but trying to pull yourself into something new and unfamiliar. Colter and I wrote this album during my first big move out of New England, where I had spent the first 22 years of my life. This departure from everything I had found comfort in (and all the memories I associate with the region) nagged at me until I wrote about it. A whole album about it actually.

What were your influences when you were growing up that made you want to be musicians?

Colter – I started off as a pianist and the first songs that made me go “oh, I want to do that” were The Ascent of Stan by Ben Folds and Samson by Regina Spektor. I have always been drawn to warm, unflinchingly expressive music that gets wrapped up in its own emotion. I knew I wanted to be in a band and write my own songs in high school when I stumbled on the shimmery bedroom-pop of bands like Oh Wonder and the XX, and the baroque-folk of Andy Shauf’s The Party. While Before We Begin is much more of a guitar album than any of those projects, I have always been obsessed with the idea that even without much of a budget or a fancy studio, you can spin together a complex, ornamented record with a couple of microphones and a few talented friends, and that ethos definitely inspired Night Hawk’s debut!

Peyton – My influences growing up ranged from folk musicians: Shakey Graves and Houndmouth, indie artists Courtney Barnett, and more classic grunge and 90s alternative bands like Nirvana and No Doubt. One of my biggest influences was also my brother who taught me how to play guitar and piano at a young age and encouraged me to write music of my own.

The band are heading out on a tour this week to promote the record and you can get tickets for the show of your choice using this link.

You can find out more about Night Hawk by visiting the band’s website and following them on Instagram for all the latest news on new music and concert dates.

Feature Image Credit – Izzy Dachs (@isabellesphotographs)