The old adage, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end” carries a lot of weight in the musical realm. Just ask Kym Register and Will Hackney, local stalwarts behind the new Durham folk rock project Loamlands.
Following the dissolution of their previous band, the country-tinged Midtown Dickens, Register and Hackney collaborated on a crop of songs that would eventually become Loamlands’ debut EP, Some Kind Of Light. The EP is set to be released Tuesday on Trekky Records, a Chapel Hill-based label that Hackney co-founded.
“At sort of the end of Midtown when we all were going different directions, I just remember calling Will up and being like, ‘Hey, I really still like playing music with you, do you want to keep doing that?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah cool, see you in like a month,’” Register said.
At the heart of the duo’s pensive folk is an enduring musical dialogue between Register and Hackney, something Register attributes to their prior experience performing together.
“Being in a band for so long together — we were already in a band for four years together — we sort of know each other musically especially,” Register said. “I mean in every way, really. But musically especially, and we know how to interact and create and are past the first date.”
Hackney said his and Register’s time in Midtown Dickens provided the duo with a strong foundation for Loamlands.
“We know how to be in a band now,” Hackney said.
Some Kind Of Light, which features Megafaun’s Brad Cook and Lost in the Trees’ Kyle Keegan, was recorded in the brief window of three days with producer Scott Solter. Hackney said the short studio time strongly influenced the music.
“I think that energy gave real life to the recordings because the takes are kind of desperate in a good way,” Hackney said.
Martin Anderson, who co-founded Trekky Records with Hackney, attributed the band’s vitality to the live recording of the EP.
“The most gripping thing about the recording to me is that it feels like a session,” Anderson said. “Everything was recorded live and there is a real electric feel — you can feel it in the room.”
Bound by a reverential Southern spirit, Register said Some Kind of Light represents the most concentrated release to arise from her and Hackney’s collaboration.
“I love how I played music in the past and who I played music with in the past, but at this point we’re sort of honing in a lot more,” Register said.
“I don’t see it getting any less fun to play this kind of music. It’s so energetic and so kinetic.”
diversions@dailytarheel.com
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