Him Horrison (aka Deedee of MSPAINT) has announced their debut album, Starting Not To Hurt, out Feb. 4. Deedee started the synthy psych side project over 10 years ago with releases focused on spontaneous, instinctive songwriting.
“I wanted to revisit Him Horrison after some years of not feeling attached to it,” Deedee says. “The earlier version of the project was me recording everything on my own, and then sometimes having 10-plus members onstage, and we’d all party real hard. I don’t live that lifestyle anymore, and it made me feel distant from the music, so I made this album as a way to reconnect with the songs and the singularity of making them. I felt like the project grew into the new person I’ve become.”
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Included on the LP is “Crystalized,” an expansive dream-pop song that opens Starting Not To Hurt. The record was recoded by Deedee on a Tascam digital 8-track in their home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. MSPAINT’s Nick Panella produced and mixed the record, with additional mixing by Matthew Tomasi.
“It used to be painful to revisit Him Horrison because the music would remind me of times I was less proud of how I’d carried myself,” Deedee continues. “But after making this album and putting more work into it than any other release for the project, it felt like the pain reflected the growth in a way I didn’t appreciate until I engaged with the feelings more.”
See the tracklist for Starting Not To Hurt and listen to “Crystalized” below.
Him Horrison – Starting Not To Hurt tracklist
- “Crystalized”
- “Sound of Trees”
- “If I Could”
- “Boring”
- “Fall Off”
- “Heal Me”
- “Fire In Your Head”
- “Tell A Lie”
- “Just Stay”
- “Dies From Sadness”
