Philadelphia is the home of the newcomer, Burd Hauz. Haunting melodies and declarations pairing with a hypnotic auditory experience, like a fine wine, is what these titans of gloom rock are known for.
“Good Grief,” is the title track and single off their 2019 EP, “Good Grief.” The EP itself features longtime friend and collaborator, Luna God, and major nods to her Lo-fi, Hip-hop origins. With this complete piece of work, you can expect unearthly elements that quiet your mind as you are summoned to bare it all.
With the reflective wording of each word penned, "So many lights in this city I can’t even see the stars. Won’t you bless my pretty heart? We can't get enough from this," We are ready to indulge in everything Burd Hauz.
“Good Grief,” opens with ominous instrumentation so unadorned, yet so loud. The panning of the elements, back and forth on our headphones, zone in our attention almost immediately. The haunting of melodies complements a mellow and free set of vocals. The distorted bass line presented creates the perfect dynamic peaking in and out of the track allowing each component in the song to have its own spotlight.
With each strum of a somber guitar chord, the progression of this record allows you to transport to an eerily dark place in your mind that you stay entranced with. The lyrics you hear scripted, match the ambiance that you are immersed in. This allows your imagination to run wild on the exact sound voyage they have paved for you. All of the elements displayed are a recipe destined for success.
We are so thrilled to have discovered the up and coming, Burd Hauz. We are looking forward to being engrossed in all they have to offer the music scene with an essence that soothes and connects with our soul.
Congratulations on the release of “Good Grief.” We love the tone that you have set for your single and EP, “Good Grief.” What was the first song you created for this project and did you know it would be part of something bigger when it was created?
So happy to hear that the project resonated with you! To this day I cannot listen to or perform “Swan Song” without becoming fairly emotional. I recognize that it probably doesn’t sound ideal, after I wrote it I became pretty fixated on the idea of being vulnerable all the time with my music. Luna God (who produced the project) was really stoked about the track once I sent it to him. We knew that we had tapped into something really unique with the addition of his electric guitar. And the audio engineer that I was working with at the time had been fairly indifferent about everything else we had worked on that year. So when he was bobbing his head along as I played the song for some friends, I thought to myself, “Ah, that’s it.”
Was there a specific moment or experience that shaped your inspiration for “Good Grief?"
I wrote “Good Grief” during a pretty transformative period. I had recently moved to California and was spending a lot of time exploring while nursing a recent heartbreak. So on one hand, I was leaning heavily into the newness that California was offering (palm trees, psychedelics, etc). But the other hand seemed to house this very dull and relentless ache. I moved to experience a new environment but still came home to the same empty feeling at the end of the night. And by the time I wrote the title track “Good Grief”, I was really sick of that emptiness. So I rolled up a joint, went into the garden, and allowed myself to get carried away by emotion again, just underneath palm trees this time. And that process of finally grieving felt really good. Hence, “Good Grief”.
Out of the 6 songs on this piece of work, what is your favorite song from the project, and why?
“Love Beams” is definitely my favorite song. Ugh, sonically, I don’t even have the words for it! The first time I played the instrumental I couldn’t help but start harmonizing. And while writing I found myself wanting to complement the frequencies I heard with not just my voice, but also the feeling elicited. Do you know? That giddy, bubbly sensation we experience during the “just friends” phase. For me, it’s all of the potentials in the uncertainty! That specific excitement has always been intoxicating to me, and on “Love Beams” I finally captured some of those feels.
With a wide range of ambiance and inspirations, what are some of your favorite places that you love to create?
If we're just talking about the physicality of a "place", these days I have learned to love creating in my room. Over the Summer I had the walls painted a different color and that really changed a lot for me creatively. Going home to be in my room and sink into my feelings is what I really look forward to these days. Candles lit, jointly held high, sipping on some tea or coffee. Then I can truly fade into whatever mood I’m in that day. I love to create sounds from a very emotional place, and I do that best when cozy in my room.
This year has been extremely difficult. What has been your biggest source of inspiration while creating new music, this year?
Music is one of the few things that brings me solace these days! Crafting new sounds provides me with a bit of relief from our current reality. And every now and again someone will reach out and tell me just how relatable the songs on “Good Grief” are, and that it provided them with a channel to reckon with some of their own less than palatable emotions. That’s what I love about making music. It can be a means of connection and understanding.