Acclaimed musician and Song Exploder host/creator Hrishikesh Hirway has shared the track “Home” featuring Jay Som today along with a self-directed video. Hirway produced the song, off his forthcoming EP out later this spring, with additional production by Grammy-winning producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen, Moses Sumney) who also mixed it; Hirway co-wrote it with John Mark Nelson.
Hirway is also set to team up with Jenny Owen Youngs this spring for select dates of music and storytelling. They’ll be on stage together, doing one combined set of all their songs, performing as a duo. Jenny and Hrishikesh have collaborated as co-writers on several songs and are both storytellers, as hosts of popular, award-winning podcasts: Hrishikesh with Song Exploder, The West Wing Weekly and Home Cooking; and Jenny with Buffering the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars Investigations. These special performances will be a mix of songs and stories from two dear friends; find tickets HERE.
These first two singles mark the first time Hrishikesh has released music under his own name, and both of the songs are deeply personal. “‘Home’ was written a year after the pandemic started, and about 6 months after my mother passed away,” says Hirway. “Except for the week I traveled for her funeral, I had spent the entirety of the previous 13 months with my wife in the small house we’d lived in for the past 8 years. I associate so much of the joy and disappointment and pain and contentment that we experienced with the places where I was at the time, but we carry all of it with us. I wanted to write a song about all of that: an ode to my wife and the life we’ve lived together; to the homes we’ve lived that life in; and to the home we still hope to find someday. I got Jay Som’s recording about 5 months after writing the song initially, and hearing those words through her voice, too, made it finally feel complete.”
Jay Som is the solo project from singer/songwriter/producer Melina Duterte. Her most recent record, 2019’s Anak Ko, was met with critical acclaim upon release, including an episode of the Song Exploder podcast, which is how she and Hrishikesh first met.
The video for “Home” is directed by Hrishikesh himself. “The video features portraits of real couples who have spent decades together,” he says. “I wanted to capture the idea, in the simplest way possible, that their lives are intertwined and full of memory and history. And that history is palpable when you see them together.” Hirway hosted and executive produced the Netflix adaptation of Song Exploder, but “Home” is his first solo directing credit. He co-directed (with animator/director Prashanti Aswani) the video for “Between There and Here,” an official selection for the SXSW Film Festival.
AN EVENING WITH HRISHIKESH HIRWAY AND JENNY OWEN YOUNGS
SXSW—Austin, TX—March 15
PhilaMOCA—Philadelphia, PA—March 18
Miracle Theatre—Washington, DC—March 19
Orpheum Theatre—Saugerties, NY—March 20
Bell House—Brooklyn, NY—March 21
Crystal Ballroom—Boston, MA—March 23
Space—Portland, ME—March 25
Neptune Theatre—Seattle, WA—May 8
Polaris—Portland, OR—May 9
Independent—San Francisco, CA—May 11
Lodge Room—Los Angeles, CA—May 17