From Seattle, Washington, the Americana two-piece turned five-piece band The Hipocrats ask some needed questions in their newest single, "Reflections (I Wish I Was)."
The Hipocrats started as Tyler McGinnis and Sarah Brunner. With the addition of Ruth Navarre on fiddle, TJ Watson on drums, and Chris DeFalco on electric bass, the band is finally complete. They've become a force to be reckoned with and are quickly becoming one of the biggest Americana bands to sweep the modern industry.
The band recently released their debut six-track EP, 'Road to Joy,' which includes the stunning and powerful single, "Reflections (I Wish I Was)." The song calls on the listener to reflect on what's important to them, why they're always running, and to take a moment to think about where they want to end up. It's a melodic, easy-listening tune that speaks to the soul.
Hitting play on "Reflections (I Wish I Was)," we're met with sweet and lush Americana-folk instrumentals that kick the tune into gear. As Brunner and McGinnis begin serenading us with their unison and harmonious vocals, they ask different individuals why they're sleeping through alarms, missing payments, and not able to support themselves.
As we make our way to the powerful and anthemic hook, The Hipocrats join together and flood our speakers with passionate energy and lyrics that remind us of life's hard points, encouraging us to move onward and upward. It's an incredibly cathartic and heartfelt track, and we perfectly understand why it made the outro position on The Hipocrats' debut EP, 'Road to Joy.'
Take a moment to check in with yourself through The Hipocrats' latest introspective single, "Reflections (I Wish I Was)," off their debut EP, 'Road to Joy,' now available on all digital streaming platforms.
Welcome to BuzzMusic, The Hipocrats. We love the introspective yet empowering feel in your recent single, "Reflections (I Wish I Was)." What inspired this conceptual and relatable song?
In the case of Reflections (I Wish I Was), the concept was posed - How cool would it be for us to have the capacity to go back in time and speak with our past selves? Imagine the insight we would be able to share, the bad decisions we would be able to prevent, and the self-doubt that we could dispel. We got to thinking about different scenarios and then quickly realized this was potentially our next song concept.
What was your brand's creative process like between the five of you for "Reflections (I Wish I Was)?" How did you begin laying the foundation and working your way up?
It's important to know that all of the songs on this EP were written in their entirety last October (2021) by the both of us (Sarah & Tyler) over the course of about 14 days. We both had day jobs at the time, Sarah as a working musician and Tyler as a manager in the service industry. From the get-go, we knew we wanted to fast-track The Hipocrats to the point of being a substantive band to build the songs up. Naturally, as solo musicians in our own right, we understood that just having songs (and co-written songs at that) was going to be the foundation that we knew we needed before anything else. However, neither of us had ever written together previously, and as any songwriter who's ever tried co-writing before knows, it usually goes one of two ways. Either you get stuck in a revolving door of clashing ideas and/or simply lack the natural complementary styles that it takes to create a good product with less effort that it would have taken had you decided to write stag. Or, if you're lucky, you find a writing partner that compliments your every move and turns the writing process into a uniquely fun, collaborative, and efficient experience - and that's exactly how we view our partnership. Once we had written the first few songs, we realized we had a warmed-up and well-oiled machine. And we could ride the momentum that we generated to create the remainder of the songs we knew we needed to have for an EP. On Tuesday nights, we would meet at Sarah's apartment. We'd brainstorm ideas and record various progressions and little licks. When we had something promising, we would loop the progression until one of us would blurt out some spontaneous lyric to the wide eyes of the other person. We'd repeat this process for a few hours, record a single take of everything we had up to that point and call it a night. Over the next few days, we'd listen to the recording and stew over ideas. Then, come Thursday evening, we would get back to work at the apartment, and by the end of the night - wallah! We had a song. This is how we wrote practically every song on this EP, Reflections (I Wish I Was) included.
Who wrote the conceptual lyrics for "Reflections (I Wish I Was)?" What was the main point you wanted listeners to pick up on and take away?
As previously mentioned, it was always a primary intention of ours to equally contribute to these songs as co-writers. Every lyric, melody, and song concept was a product of joint collaboration. Our writing process is fully and entirely tandem, and we both feel we would not be where we are had that not been the case. For "Reflections (I Wish I Was)" specifically, It's actually an odd structure for a song. It really doesn't fit the mold of your traditional song formats. Essentially, it's composed of two individual songs glued together with a melodic breakdown that transitions both prose and perspective along the way. We feel it's a playful and exciting proposition to yearn for the chance to speak to one's past self, but we balance that with the reality and honest expectations in the second half of the song that is simply reflecting on one's past is enough to make a positive change in the way you go about your day to day life. Main points aside, we also felt like it was important for both of us to speak to the divergence in emotions that we all experience in life. How much better off would we be if we all learned to laugh through life's embarrassing moments rather than dwell in self-consciousness. Wouldn't it be great to be able to be your own personal cheerleader to motivate you through the hard times, no matter how difficult or dark your life may seem at the time? It was a fun exercise in self-awareness, and we both found lines in the song that helped us get through our struggles today.
Why did you choose to place "Reflections (I Wish I Was)" as the final track on your debut EP 'Road to Joy'? Would you say the single is a solid representation of the theme and concept within EP?
Musically alone, we feel like this song was one of our favorites prior to releasing the EP. It was a song that we frequently ended our live performances with, and we thought it would be a natural fit to wrap up the album. Diving a little deeper into our reasoning, we both felt that the song's overall message would be a fun and purposeful way to wrap Road to Joy with. If we can get our listeners to have their own self-reflection after listening to the EP, then they might experience some of the same feelings we continue to have since finishing the song. Plus, there's something intentionally unfinished with the story there that we think leaves the listener wanting more.
What's next for you?
We're currently on our debut "Road to Joy" National tour promoting the EP. The tour spans nearly five months with over 80 shows. Along the way, we are working on new songs daily and have plans to record a single in the next few months remotely before returning to Seattle, WA, in late October. After which, we plan to keep playing locally in the Seattle music circuit to fund our first full-length album that we intend on releasing next year. Most, if not all, of its tracks. We hope to write over the next few months while we are on tour.
