Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow

Album Review

In August of 2007, Hammock were invited to play their first ever live gig at an art show after-party to be attended by Sigur Rós' Jon Thor Birgisson, a big influence on the band. Challenged with reproducing their lush and complex recorded sound live, the duo chose to go minimal, and find out if what really comprised the Hammock magic was as simple as just the guitars in their hands and the pedals at their feet. They found that it is. This album, then, is a studio recording of that "start of Act II" set, enhanced with a supportive cello from Sixpence None the Richer's Matt Slocum. Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow is Hammock reduced to their deepest essence, a still and stunning beauty. Dropping the vocals, dropping beats, Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson find the core of their dream-ambient muse. Gone are the Boards of Canada mannerisms of Kenotic, gone are the sometimes bluesy guitars of Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo, gone are the yearning, aching vocals. And what remains is a sound both simple and unaffected. Byrd and Thompson shed any emotional armor they wore, and appear here as unafraid to express their fragility or vulnerability, as people who know that there is nothing to be afraid of, who know that it is OK to express their pain, their joy, their overarching hopefulness. Maybe operates outside of genre, far beyond the now obvious limitations of the dream pop/shoegaze scene Hammock cut their teeth in.