Chicago – After putting countless hours in the studio, London based folk singer Reuben Hollebon is set to release his debut album Terminal Nostalgia. His obsessive need to create music began with engineering the songs of other artists, such as Basement Jaxx and Courtney Barnett, and eventually led him to create his own music. Hollebon’s time, energy, and devotion has resulted in a beautiful, yet dark LP, which is set for release on May 20th via Bright Antenna Records. Terminal Nostalgia features the single “Faces.” Reuben Hollebon recently released a new version of “Faces,” which he worked on with Canadian producer Damian Taylor (Björk, UNKLE).
Reuben Hollebon grew up by the coast in Norfolk, England, making for a quiet and understated life. He now lives in London, to which he says, “When you live in the city, it’s harder to idle around, as much as maybe you’d want to, whereas in the country, it’s not like that and it benefits you.” His childhood was spent pedaling bicycles out to the sea, exploring the land, and paying close attention to the people around him, and according to Hollebon, this is what inspired Terminal Nostalgia; “They are stories that revolve around that life.”
Terminal Nostalgia is a reflection of the past, but it is also a warning note that life should be about the now and “not only something to carve into a remembrance.” Hollebon told Best New Bands, “We try to do things to give ourselves a better future, when we should be entertaining ourselves right now.” Certainly listening to music and making music is a way for Reuben Hollebon to entertain in the “now,” and this debut album is painted with Hollebon’s discovery of music as a creative outlet. Hollebon said he dreamed of making an album since the first time he heard music, as a child, and even more so as he grew to discover music he loved: “It was eleven or twelve when I could first work a job in order to be able to buy music and not just browse through my parent’s record collection, and then you start picturing what you’re gonna do [with your life] and I remember conversations about, ‘The second song on an album should be this and the first one should be this kind of thing.’”
Hollebon definitely had his say inTerminal Nostalgia. Most of the album is self-produced, and features a collection of profoundly personal tales. Several of the songs on Terminal Nostalgia center around Hollebon’s friends and family, including the heavy, grief-stricken “We’re Gonna Miss Us (When We’re Gone),” which speaks of the struggles and sadness experienced when dementia begins to take its toll on a loved one. Album opener “Haystacks” is filled with a deep sense of deviousness. It “draws from a true folk story of a boy whose mischief preceded a darker turn in his life.” Though, it’s not all dark; there is hope to be found in Terminal Nostalgia. “Common Table” imagines a happy ending for us all, with Hollebon singing, ”When the dust is made of us, we’ll take a boat and head out to the water.”
One of the most beautiful and heartfelt tracks on the album is “Augustus,” which was inspired by British painter Augustus John, who left London for Whales to spend two years painting in the mountains in Arenig Valley. Hollebon says, “we should spend more time focusing on each other, family, and creation.” He strives to do just that. In a YouTube interview, Hollebon said, “You try and do as many things as you want to do; you want to write, paint, run, talk to people, dance. I found myself more and more and more, when I woke up in the morning, that was just what I needed… It’s like, you need your coffee; well, you need to write a piece of music.” When asked if he ever felt stifled and unable to write music, Reuben Hollebon recalled a time he felt scared of writing and recording, but he told Best New Bands, “I stopped being scared of doing something badly. Being scared of doing something badly is what stops so many people… I’ve written so many songs, and so many of them will never be heard by anyone because they’re not good. They’re not there yet. That is not a bad thing. That’s something that took awhile to learn.”
We’re all better off for this lesson learnt because Reuben Hollebon has created a wonderful album filled with ample soul and emotion.
Terminal Nostalgia will be released on May 20th via Bright Antenna Records. Follow Reuben Hollebon on Facebook and Twitter.
Sarah Hess
After attending The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Sarah went on to study education at Dominican University, earning a degree in history. When not teaching, writing, or taking in a show, she is most likely to be found with a camera to her eye or hanging out in a darkroom.
You can follow Sarah Hess on twitter at @Sarahhasanh and view her music photography on her website: smhimaging.com.
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