Hand Drawn Tree — “14 Hours a Day”
ARTIST: Hand Drawn Tree
TITLE: 14 Hours a Day
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 4, 2018
LABEL: UNSIGNED / SELF-RELEASE
Hand Drawn Tree’s latest effort, “14 Hours a Day,” is as relaxing as it is introspective, with instruments excellently encapsulating the feeling of calm ocean waves and SoCal indie rockers.
Idyllic. Peaceful. Reflective. Melancholic. These words are what immediately came to mind upon listening to the band’s latest double A-side single. Self-described as psychedelic indie rockers, Hand Drawn Tree’s goal is to have people think about the world, and to that extent, they succeed.
As easy as it is to get lost in thought upon listening to the single, the lyrics themselves are somber, yet end on a hopeful note. Despite lamenting on hurtful moments from the past (“Santa thought you were bad and you deserve all that”/“they took it from the working screams of labor”), the relaxed, poppy sounding drum beats, dreamy guitars, and grooving bass allow each chorus from their respective songs to suggest that the narrator’s life has moved on; Hardships turned into distant memories.
As far as influences go, singer Hector Quintero stated that the album reflects a time when people were overworked: the effort people expelled was nearly double of the typical eight-hour work cycle which people take for granted today. The essay “In Praise of Idleness” by Bertrand Russell was cited as a lyrical influence.
Overall, the nearly 10-minute single is worth a listen through. Moving into the future, it’ll be interesting to see how the group will progress past their older material, as they’re expecting to release an album in the near-future.