Jakethehawk Premiere “June” From Hinterlands out Feb. 19
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based heavy rockers Jakethehawk will release their third album, Hinterlands, on Feb. 19 as their first offering through Ripple Music. It is the follow-up to 2018’s To Build a Fire (discussed here) and pushes outward into new ranges of progressive melody driven both by airy guitar effects for a post-rock vibe and the vocals of guitarist/keyboardist John Huxley — joined by guitarist Josh Emery and bassist Justin Lober on vocals here and there throughout, while Jordan Lober rounds out the four-piece on drums — across six songs and a dynamic 38 minutes that build on influences from the likes of The Ocean, Opeth and maybe even Between the Buried and Me as much as Elder or any number of their acolyte heavy-made-prog outfits.
Most of all what Jakethehawk do throughout Hinterlands is distinguish themselves. Each track is between five and a half — the shortest is the penultimate “Uncanny Valley” at 5:31 — and about seven minutes long, but how that time is used varies widely and creates an full-album immersion that speaks to the root intent of the band. That is, Hinterlands should be taken as a whole, or at very least as its two three-song halves on an LP. In any case, the overarching flow is established early in “Counting” as the carefully controlled rhythm brings to mind a patience of songwriting that resists the urge to fully break out and run, even at its max-weight apex in the second half.
Instead, it’s the subsequent “Ochre and Umber” that starts off at a sprint, but even that’s momentary, as the band instead turns to a drift and floating 
progression as setup for the central riff that emerges complemented/contrasted by acoustic strum in the verse. Hooky and revealing of the band’s metalloprog leanings, “Ochre and Umber” is backed by “Interzone Mantra,” which is fuzzed, stretched, intense and patient all at the same time, a consuming highlight for a record that’s already shown marked grace and only continues to do so throughout side B, as “Still Life” (lest we forget Opeth) leans more toward the acoustics in longer subdued stretches before unveiling its full doomly march.
Somewhere between weighted prog and heavy post-rock, Jakethehawk stand out because of their underlying punk influence without being at all punk. As the bass rumbles in “Uncanny Valley” and the guitars once more embrace a wider breadth intertwined with acoustics, the atmosphere is central in a way that most heavy rock doesn’t dare toward, while keeping a sense of not just continuity with the material surrounding, but a point of arrival at the album’s crescendo, which it might be were it not for “June” at the end crashing in with its initial roll, the opening riff familiar but hard to pick out of a half-remembered ether as the band twist it into their own and proceed to summarize the blend of craft and mood they’ve harnessed all along throughout Hinterlands, culminating in a significant round of pummel and shouts before rumbling to the album’s finish.
Jakethehawk were announced as signing to Ripple last September as part of a cohort that includes Thunder Horse, Starified and Appalooza. As records have started to arrive from this set, they each bring something new to the label’s aesthetic, and Jakethehawk‘s penchant for heavy and progressive melody does likewise. Parts may ring recognizable, but they’re no one here so much as themselves.
“June” is premiering below, followed by the album preorder link and more info from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Album preorder: https://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com/products?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search=jakethehawk
Formed in 2016, Jakethehawk has always sought to synthesize the classic, riff-centric sound of proto-metal’s pioneers with the textures of psychedelic rock and progressive rock. Additionally, heavy influence is drawn from the band’s home turf… both from the the lush, wooded river valley and from the rich tradition of folk music that still blossoms here. Really, it would be disingenuous for a band from this place to call themselves “desert rock”… much as the landscape and the culture shaped the music of the Palm Desert scene in the early 90’s, so too does Jakethehawk embrace the influence from their homeland. The band embrace their self-given, oxymoronic moniker, “Appalachian Desert Rock” because, they feel it sums these things up… but more importantly than that.. they like it.
2020 sees core members Huxley, Lober and Lober adding guitarist and “sometimes vocalist” Josh Emery to the band as a permanent member to expand their sonic palette in both a live and studio setting.
Jakethehawk is:
John Huxley (Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards)
Jordan Lober (Drums)
Justin Lober (Bass, Vocals)
Josh Emery (Guitar, Vocals)
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Tags: Hinterlands, Jakethehawk, Jakethehawk Hinterlands, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Ripple Music
