Had I taken the time to list my favourite records of 2023, Hollow Hand’s Your Own Adventure would be pretty high on it. There’s something about the Brighton based folk-rock group’s sound that is simply intoxicating to me. The amount of plays it’s gotten over here at the house are countless and there’s no end in sight. Which is why I jumped at the chance to film with Hollow Hand in De Vermaning – a 17th century church in Edam, The Netherlands. In the middle of a heatwave, they played covers of Michael Hurley’s The Portland Water and The Beatles’ I’m Only Sleeping and their own Jealous King.

Speaking on the band’s third album Your Own Adventure, Max Kinghorn-Mills says: “The title is kind of a mantra to summarize my philosophy when writing and recording the album. I grew up immersing myself in all kinds of Fantasy genres and I loved the choose your own adventure game-books of Joe Dever. Other kinds of books I was reading throughout the writing process pointed me towards a kind of ‘belief in the self’ – there’s no definitive, correct way to live this life.”

“I’d sit on the stairs and listen in, wondering about how it would feel to write a song.”

This Hollow Hand session includes the second Michael Hurley cover in a short period, after Kassi Valazza covered Light Green Fellow. Hurley’s music takes Max Kinghorn-Mills back to his youth. “Laughter, marijuana smoke & Michael Hurley’s music; those are my fond memories of being a little boy. My parents would have their friends over and stay up late listening to Beefheart & Wolfways. I’d sit on the stairs and listen in, wondering about how it would feel to write a song.”

“The fab four were my friends.”

“As I got older, it soon became clear that wherever I was, so too were The Beatles. The first band who made me want to sing was more likely The Who, but albums like Revolver and Rubber Soul taught me about sound and lyricism. Plus, the fab four were my friends.”

Corruption of mankind.

Your Own Adventure features the input of Tim Smith (Midlake, Harp), Spencer Cullum (session coming soon!), Holly Macve, Ryan Pollie and Oliver Newton (also playing drums on this session). “Jealous King is a song about the corruption of mankind. I don’t have much faith in the people who run this world.”

Photos

Keep watching

Thank you for watching and enjoying this session. You’ll probably like some other sessions from The Influences’ archive too, like these earlier ones by Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears, Dominic Billett and Erin Rae.