* Back in our purely Instagram days, we started a series called #OpenEarsInfluencers, highlighting an album that had a major influence on artists, music industry folks, and music fiends alike’s love for music, an album that was really a catalyst and started it all for where they currently are in their musical journey.
Today’s OpenEars Influencers has Luke Smith from Hare and the Hounds, who’s album A Moth, a Flame is in our 35 Best Albums of 2015 so far, talking about an album that had a major influence on him.
Hare and the Hounds, formed in 2010 when Luke Smith began working out material over a variety of small venue and house shows in Atlanta. After the release of their first EP in 2012, Smith started working on what eventually would become the band’s first full-length record—A Moth, a Flame. The album, released March 24, 2015 from The Cottage Recording Co., features Smith, and a rotating cast of Atlanta musicians powering through songs that explore the concept of home through what Creative Loafing has called “spacious, intricate indie rock.” At times suffused with emotion and at others plaintive and familial, Hare and the Hounds’ music reverberates with the mediations and worries of daily life rendered with expansive gestures.
The Album: Bob Dylan – Bringing It All Back Home.
“I can’t imagine any point in the future where I’m not constantly coming back to this record. I mean, “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” is Dylan doing what he does best! I’m sure he would casually write off the weight of these songs, but I’m a touch more realistic. I think you can feel the heartbreak in “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and it’s really what keeps bringing me back. Don’t hate me, but I’m glad he went electric. ”
Check out Hare and the Hounds song “Vigil” on Spotify:
