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You might think any fledgling band would be flattered to speechlessness if The New York Times singled it out as the ringleader of a musical revival. But for the Brooklyn octet Hem, it was a bit of a mixed blessing.
The band was chosen by the legendary rag as a leading force in the revival of countrypolitan, the orchestral country-based style that was as revered by artists such as Tammy Wynette, Ray Charles and George Jones as it was rejected by some traditionally-minded audiences.
"We never meant to be the poster children for the revitalization of countrypolitan music," founder Dan Messé said. "But the New York Times article has certainly sort of made us that ... I mean, we mentioned (the previous artists) in initial press releases, and people immediately grabbed on to that and reapplied countrypolitan to us, which I suppose is fine - but I certainly think we're more than just a rehashing of a '70s fad."
However, Messé is not snubbing the comparison.
"We love countrypolitan music," he continued, "but there was this huge outcry against it as untraditional. (Purists) accused George Jones of being a sellout, but to me it was exactly what was going on in the pop world with The Carpenters and Glen Campbell and people like that. And to me, that's like the classic American melting pot of musical styles, and that's what we've always been about."
In fact, it was exactly those albums that the band listened to while recording its latest album, Eveningland.
"It wasn't so much the songwriting," Messé said, "but just the way those records sound were an inspiration to the way Eveningland ultimately came out. So on some level, we're thrilled to be associated with (those) artists - but there's just as many people that still hate that music for some reason, so it's definitely a little touchy."
Hem expanded from the founding members of vocalist Sally Ellyson and instrumentalists Messé, Gary Maurer and Steve Curtis to include four other instrumentalists. The band knew the sound it desired for its second recording was far more rich and complex than that found on its elegantly organic, critically acclaimed debut Rabbit Songs. However, none of the members were quite sure how to find it.
"We knew we wanted to have a symphonic sound," Messé explained, "but all the studios that they used to record that music in ... don't exist anymore. So we started looking and found that, basically, we had two choices - we could either go to Eastern Europe or India. I chose Eastern Europe, (and) we sort of went blindly and didn't really know what we were getting in to until we landed in Bratislava."
The band met with the Slovak National Radio Orchestra and recorded in a Soviet-era hall in the Slovakian capitol for what Messé described as "eight sleepless, drunken days."
"It was terrifying and impossible, but we figured it out and got the sound that we wanted," Messé said. "So much of what we write about is about either being totally stuck or being unable to stop moving. I think when you're traveling there's a sense that life can be a little bit surreal, and we tried to capture that. We wanted the sense that anything could happen and it definitely felt that way working in the Slovak Republic."
Ultimately, traveling was not the only source of the surreal while the band was in Bratislava. Only days before Hem arrived, the control room reserved for recording was torn out, leaving it with an accompanying orchestra but little else.
"They didn't tell us this before we landed, and we spent the whole first day rehearsing with the orchestra and we were all excited, and then the next day we found out there was no way to actually record," Messé continued. "It wound up that (Maurer) had to literally build the studio from scratch and collect old Eastern European recording equipment to patch this together."
At the same time, the band discovered the fate of its label - the now defunct Dreamworks - which resulted in pressure to finish the album before its final collapse. Though now signed to Rounder Records, the band is grateful for its experience with Dreamworks.
"They were always an artist-friendly label, which is probably why they don't exist anymore. Basically, they were as artist-friendly in death as they were in life, because they gave us back everything (including Eveningland and Rabbit Songs). It's definitely allowed us to carry on and was definitely against all odds because we're not making the most commercial music."
From the attention Hem is receiving from critics and the increasingly hefty crowds on tour, Messé has realized mainstream favoritism isn't the only way to bring your music - revivalist or not - to the masses.
"It's definitely catching on," Messé said. "It's a lot of word of mouth - and that's what makes the tour so exciting everywhere we've been going. It keeps selling out, and it's just amazing to see because we didn't expect it."
Hem plays 8 p.m. tonight at Brick by Brick. For more information, visit www.eveningland.com.
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