Graham Hunt breaks down the influences on new album Timeless World Forever
Wisconsin singer/songwriter Graham Hunt has played in his share of bands, including Midnight Reruns and Sundial Mottos. But after making his solo debut in 2019 with Leaving Silver City, Hunt has been crafting his own uniquely scruffy and tuneful blend of indie pop and psychedelia, with which he’s hit a new personal best on fifth album Timeless World Forever, an endlessly catchy and tuneful set of pop gems that nods to the oddball neo-psych of the Flaming Lips and the darkly quirky bedroom pop of Eels. It’s the highest compliment coming from me to say that these are the perfect summer road trip mixtape songs you could ask for.
With Timeless World Forever out today via Run For Cover, Hunt told us about some of the influences that went into shaping the album, including the playful dub of Scientist, power pop cult favorites the Only Ones, and the late Brian Wilson. Read his commentary, hear his new album, and listen to the playlist.
Scientist – “Rubber Foot”
Dub music is enchanting. Without access to state-of-the-art gear, its progenitors were creating some of the most innovative music of their time. Reading about Lee “Scratch” Perry burying a microphone and smacking the earth to create a kick drum sound makes me want to run downstairs and turn on the computer. I never really learned how to be an audio engineer in the “correct” way, so I compensate with experimentation. It brings me joy to hear about some of the all-time greats having a similar mindset. Scientist was a protege of King Tubby, and I don’t know a ton about him, but I found myself coming back to The Best Dub Album In The World a lot while making Timeless World Forever.
Headless Chickens – “Cruise Control”
Last year, I watched a documentary about New Zealand twee-merchants Flying Nun Records. I was already familiar with the Clean and the Bats, bands that defined their aesthetic. However, I was unaware they had a group that made an honest go of a chart-topping pop hit. It has an acid-house-influenced sound that was typical of the early ’90s elsewhere, but not in New Zealand. I found their idiosyncratic take on the style very charming. “Sometimes days seem to move just like a big fat man/Sometimes days seem to end up where they first began.” I know what they mean. The album is called Body Blow, which is funny if you’re familiar with Longmont Potion Castle.
The Only Ones – “From Here to Eternity”
A favorite of my late teens that I always find my way back to. Described by the British press at the time as “too hippie to be punk and too punk to be hippie,” they existed in a perfect zone for a kid who had recently shaved his Mohawk and needed more out of music than the studded vests had to offer. Peter Perrett was a young guy who recruited a band full of old guys. Prog rock shredders. Very unfashionable in the late ’70s. He writes syrupy, quixotic love poems and croaks them out in a distant, disaffected mewl. Blink-182 covered “Another Girl, Another Planet” in 2004, and while I’m happy that song got its due, I wish more people dug into their catalog. This one is the real chill-inducer for me.
The Chicks – “I Can Love You Better Than That”
My mom would play the album Wide Open Spaces all the time when I was a kid. I revisited it last year and was blown away. Everything sounds so crispy. It’s soulful and comforting, and most of the songs are exceptionally well-written. Their voices slice through the mix like a katana, and they don’t even sound like they’re trying. It’s light and playful and everything I want out of this type of thing. It’s relatively sparse compared to modern country today, giving all the instruments room to be appreciated. In the video, one of the singers looks like Carmela Soprano; that’s fun to imagine.
Less Than Jake – “Look What Happened”
Like many people my age, I learned about a lot of music through Tony Hawk Pro Skater. It sent me down a brief but intense middle school ska punk phase. I’m not sure what prompted me to revisit this song last year, but I listened to it many times while driving or doing the dishes. It’s fun to find the one or two tracks on albums you liked as a kid that hold up. I still like songs with big singalong choruses; it’s one of the best surefire techniques to achieve total immersion; everything else in the world is blocked out.
The Tough Alliance – “Miami“
Weird band. Swedes trying to do Madchester revival, but you can still kinda tell it’s from 2007. Their live shows entailed pressing play on a laptop as the two band members would stalk the stage threateningly with baseball bats. Addictive song; I found myself running it back a lot last year.
Jarvis Cocker – “Running The World”
The problem with everything spelled out for you. If only there wasn’t an all-encompassing structure in place that, by its very nature, is constantly reproducing itself. Still, the celestial production and Jarvis’s delivery make me feel hopeful. Spinoza says hope isn’t real, but you can always derive power from joy.
Royal Trux – “I’m Ready”
Everybody gets annoyed when I play this in the van. It just makes me happy. In a similar way to Lee “Scratch” Perry, here’s a reminder that there are no rules to making music. Just do whatever. Their label gave them a million dollars to buy a house in West Virginia to just do whatever. The slide guitar sounds like Doug (my roommate’s cat)
The Beach Boys – “Long Promised Road”
RIP Brian Wilson. My most proud celebrity birthday sharer. He was my first concert, Summerfest 2001. I asked my dad to take me because Paul Simon was playing, whom I had seen on The Muppet Show. Brian was opening. I really wished I had paid more attention because I remember the Arby’s roast beef sandwich I had in more vivid detail than the music. One of those things has stood the test of time a lot better than the other. Anyway, I cherish Brian, but I gotta be honest, this is the Beach Boys song that had me in its grasp last year. This one is all Carl. It’s defiant, positive, and inspirational. I can’t tell if it’s a fuzzed-out guitar, a synth, or a horn in the bridge, but it sounds like the submarine is taking water.
Lucy (Cooper B Handy) – “Can You Feel The Beat Tonight”
My favorite type of music sounds both familiar and otherworldly. Music that somehow manages to sound like nothing I’ve ever heard before and, simultaneously, like I’ve been hearing it my whole life. There are many things Lucy’s music reminds me of—early 2000s southern rap, the Cure, Bladee—but it doesn’t actually sound like any of these things. It just sounds like him. That’s a beautiful and inspiring thing.
