Hilly Eye’s first-ever tour, in support of its debut album, brings it to Washington, D.C. this week.
2013 could become the busiest year for New York-based duo Hilly Eye, composed of members Amy Klein and Catherine Tung. It released its debut record, Reasons to Live, at the end of January and embarked on its first tour simultaneously. And soon, it will record a split 7-inch on a Chinese label and consider expanding the tour beyond the East Coast to support the new album.
But the original formation of Hilly Eye dates back as far as four years and Klein and Tung have known each other for even longer. The two originally met while attending college and working at the radio station there, but only became friends after moving to New York post-graduation. Tung notes that during their time in college, Klein was the one who played in bands and would later go on to play guitar with New Jersey punk titans Titus Andronicus.
Tung’s path into rock music was a little less typical, in that she originally was trained as a classical musician. She first learned how to play violin in her youth and was a classical singer when she and Klein first came on to each other’s radars. Tung credits her background as being a major help in the song-crafting process for Hilly Eye.
“It’s a really handy skill I have, even if you’re in a rock band, because it trains your ear,” Tung said. “When Amy and I wrote the bass lines for our record ’cause we didn’t have a bassist, I think she probably relied on her experience with other bassists and I kind of relied on my vocal training, because you learn a lot of about bass lines in that kind of music.”
As an adult, Tung was taught drums from her sister’s friend, whose teaching method was to make her transcribe Iggy Pop songs (among other bands). She was still in the early stages of learning when Klein asked her to join Hilly Eye back in 2009. At the time, there was another guitarist, but the group eventually evolved into solely Tung and Klein.
Although there are only two members in Hilly Eye, there is no shortage of noise on its debut record, which is full of slow-building guitar and drums while the two harmonize on vocals. The songs offer fascinating contradictions, shifting from the beautiful and delicate to something more harsh and aggressive. Tung attributes the music on the record to the duo’s shared vision of what they wanted to create and utilizing looping and pedals to make the sound as full as it could be.
“I think any time you go to see a two-piece band, there’s a certain kind of intimate feel to it, and I think it dictated how our sound developed,” Tung said. “We both wanted to something kind of loud and raw so we had an interesting challenge — how could we make as much noise as possible with only two members?”
Hilly Eye plays Washington’s Black Cat on Wednesday. Tickets are $10 and doors open at 8 p.m.
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