Allan Hill: Oxford
Allan Hill shared impermanence resilience in his quiescent indie-folk album, Oxford
Montreal, QC-born, Halifax, NS- residing indie-folk solo artist, Allan Hill, released his impermanence-eclipsing sophomore album, Oxford, on June 10th.
Fans of Adrianne Lenker, Elliott Smith, and Sufjan Stevens will easily find appeal in the intimate motions, led by the rhythm of soft banjo strings, warm synths, and fingerpicked guitars as the narrative of uncertainty and isolation tracks across the nine singles. The album starts with the plaintively naturalistic lead single, Angell Woods, carries the incense of existentialism through the strikingly tender production.
Each track is a contrast between light production and heavy lyricism and a testament to the artist’s inclination to take a mundane view and put it through a new lens, in the same way a film camera distorts reality with its warmth. But none more so than the title single, Oxford. The emotion mellifluously ebbs and flows through the sepia vignette that depicts acceptance of unrelenting change.
Vankleek Hill Demo, which was recorded in one take in the woods on a sweltering summer night, is also an unmissable feat on the sophomore release. Under Hill’s hands, acoustic strings become kaleidoscopically effervescent wells of euphonic bliss.
Allan Hill said:“Oxford delicately documents the process of starting over and coming to terms with solitude, guilt, and inevitable change in real-time. Impermanence is a common theme. Empty stretches of highway, late night phone calls, decaying suburbs, violence, tender conversations and flora and fauna are all intertwined to create an intimate yet isolating universe.”
Have a listen and connect with Allan Hill:
