Hovvdy

Drawing from the lo-fi and slowcore currents of the 1990s, Texas duo Hovvdy crafted an ambling, intimate brand of indie rock that prompted parallels to Duster, Yo La Tengo, and Pavement, particularly on early efforts such as their debut full-length, Taster, issued in 2016. On their third album, Heavy Lifter, the pair enlisted an outside producer for the first time and refined a more unified approach that foregrounded the lyrics while preserving a distinctly warm, low-key atmosphere; that foundation paved the way for the emotionally direct True Love in 2021 and the double-length Hovvdy in 2024, the latter captured largely through live studio takes to convey the immediacy of shared space.

Will Taylor and Charlie Martin launched Hovvdy in 2014 after only a brief period playing guitar, their relaxed and unadorned style surfacing first on a seven-track EP that December. The next year the duo collaborated with Austin band Loafer on the split single “Stay Warm,” then toured the United States before committing Taster to tape. Released in April 2016, the album attracted the attention of Philadelphia indie imprint Double Double Whammy, which remastered and reissued it in 2017—the same year Hovvdy supported Pinegrove and Downtown Boys on the road. Their second album, the hushed Cranberry, appeared in February 2018.

Mid-2019 brought the Covers EP with labelmate Lomelda, on which each act interpreted the other’s material; around the same time Hovvdy tracked Heavy Lifter across Texas home studios alongside co-producer Ben Littlejohn, releasing it that October via Double Double Whammy and U.K. label Specialist Subject Records. Both members had married by the time they returned with True Love, their 2021 debut for Grand Jury, which Andrew Sarlo (Bon Iver, Big Thief) co-produced at his Los Angeles facility. Sarlo rejoined them for the self-released 2022 EP billboard for my feelings, a four-song set that included matching instrumentals. In 2023 Hovvdy covered Samia’s “To Me It Was” and issued the original single “Jean,” another Sarlo collaboration that signaled their move to Arts & Crafts. By then Taylor had relocated to Nashville while Martin remained in St. Louis, Texas. The label issued the duo’s fifth album, Hovvdy, in April 2024; the expansive set, which meditates on time, experience, and the reverberations of relationships, was recorded with Taylor, Martin, Sarlo, and Littlejohn all present so that live takes could preserve the feeling of being in the room together.