Jammerzine has an exclusive interview with the duo Chimehours as well as a test drive of their new album, ‘Underneath The Earth’, which is out today.
‘Underneath The Earth’ is a snapshot of lives that have come together to create beautiful and original music for the masses with the heart and soul in mind. Creating lush soundscapes and beautiful melodic tapestries, each track on ‘Underneath The Earth’ feels like a story that you can relate to, encompassed by music that captures the essence of the subject and takes you on a journey into different parts of your soul.
Someti9mes music is therapeutic. ‘Underneath The Earth’ shows that it can also be that sweet caress that we all need. Inspirational as an invitation.
And, in this interview, we get to talk with Beck Goldsmith and Jon Dix, the collaborative minds and muse behind Chimehours, about ‘Underneath The Earth’, their beginnings and how they create such music that soothes the tired minds and hearts with a new vision of heart and hope meant to show you that there is more in this world than what gets you down.
About Chimehours & ‘Underneath The Earth’
Chimehours are a collaborative effort of Beck Goldsmith and Jon Dix who had already worked together on several indie folk releases in the past teaming up right now to create a new musical project in which they could express their shared love for folk horror, ghost stories and supernatural. “We wanted to do something that musically spoke to those influences and allowed us to explore the themes they raise – nature, folklore, time, community, and a sense of the uncanny,” recalls Beck.
The album concept took shape after a candlelit reading of Max Porter’s ‘Lanny’ one Burns Night. Jon explains, “The themes and setting cemented our ideas and gave us a specific focus, and we imagined ourselves writing a soundtrack to the book, or to an imagined film of the book. From there, the songs came together at their own pace and distance”.
Inspired by ethereal minimalism, retro cinema and folk narratives, Chimehours craft a sonic palette reflecting on the pressures of modern life and the desire for reconnection with the natural world. “The idea of a lost child’s connection with a Green Man-style character in the Lanny book also finds itself in the premiered single.” Beck clarifies, “With Underneath the Earth, we wanted to capture this complicated relationship with nature and the sense of something calling to us from somewhere else – an ‘otherness’ that exists just outside of what we know and understand. Something old and eternal and familial, and at the same time unsettling”.
Written and produced between Derbyshire, London and Margate during lockdown and beyond, the album incorporates drones, drums, gritty guitars merging with woodwind, strings and voice textures that resist clear linearity. “We started to get bigger and bolder in our approach, and it was fun and mysterious and compulsive to bring it all together (as though other forces were at work…),” shares the duo.
The result is a balanced blend of naturalism, tonal clarity, and experimental sonic tension. ‘Underneath the Earth’ explores how the themes of life and existential suffering characterise every human being. “The album explores how the cycle of life and our place within nature is primal and relentless, and ultimately connects us back to the earth,” says Beck. “There is darkness and beauty in that.”
Featured images by Tim Topple.
LINKS:
https://linktr.ee/chimehours
https://www.instagram.com/chimehours.band/
https://chimehours.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@chimehoursband