Hallelujah the Hills played Deep Cuts – 11/15

HTH celebrated five years of I’m You in Medford with support from Upper Wilds and Sidebody. 

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The Boston music landscape is a different place now than it was five years ago, when local indie/folk/rock mainstays Hallelujah the Hills released their seventh LP I’m You. For starters, I can think of at least three beloved venues where I once saw Hills shows that no longer exist. This includes, of course, Great Scott, where I covered the album’s jubilant release show so many Decembers ago. Some of my photos from that gig later made it into the gatefold of I’m You‘s eventual vinyl pressing, and I often think of that night as a true classic GS show – one of the last before the pandemic-era demise of its original location.

One thing that’s held steadfast in all that time, though, is the indefatigable spirit of the Hills. The band are currently putting the finishing touches on their forthcoming 52-song (!) album Deck, and they remain one of the city’s best live acts wherever they play these days. Gigs have been less plentiful of late (that many new songs is a not-insignificant amount of studio time, one presumes), but bandleader Ryan Walsh and company came together five years to the day from their last record’s release to perform it front to back for the first time last week at Medford’s Deep Cuts.

There are lots of great Hills records, but I’m You strikes a special chord for me that clearly resonated with the rest of Friday’s packed crowd too. It’s an introspective, funny, dense and moving piece of work that’s been heavy in my rotation over the ups and downs of the past half decade, and hearing the boisterous full-band live treatment of every song was a genuine treat. It was also something of a full-circle moment thinking back to that night at Great Scott – perhaps the end of a chapter. But a new era awaits with Deck on the horizon, and who knows, maybe we’ll be celebrating that record’s fifth anniversary at New Great Scott somewhere down the line. What year is it anyway?

Check out photos from the night below, including two great opening sets from soaring NYC space-rock trio Upper Wilds and playfully oddball Somerville post-punks Sidebody.