In 2018, when Texas native Kacey Musgraves released her landmark album Golden Hour she breathed new life into the term – one that typically describes those brief windows of sunrise and sunset that’s made for so many magic cinematic moments. But we’re willing to wager that “silver hour” is outside the bounds of most folks’ lexicon. The first meaning trails its golden counterpart – a fleeting period of post-sunset luminescence for waterfront communities. The second definition is a bit more morbid – used by healthcare workers in reference to the 30 minutes immediately before and after a patient passes away. And although there’s a common thread between those two – the sense of light at the end of a cycle – there’s also a Texas trio eager to make like Musgraves and give their namesake a glow up.
Just like that reassuring glimmer on the onset of darkness, Austin three-piece Silver Hour started out early on in the pandemic between longtime friends as means of staving off the insanity of isolation and keeping the creative juices flowing. Since then, Silver Hour’s steered clear of genre constraints, instead incorporating everything from retro film soundtracks to funk, jazz, and hard rock into their vintage-meets-modern M.O. of songwriting. But now that Silver Hour’s bulked up their scene legs with their fair share of live shows, they’re finally extending their sound past the stage and onto the shores of streaming services.
Ahead of their sophomore effort “Desert Doomer” that drops next Friday, “Star”is the shimmering first node for Silver Hour’s developing constellation of singles. Soon after a slide guitar intro that could segue into pretty much any genre, “Star” orbits Dark Side era Pink Floyd thanks to Jake Helpinstill’s drum fills, James LeBlanc’s bass licks, and Michael Moretta’s sweet-but-sinister vocals that hover above blues-inspired guitar chords, evoking the styles of Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and David Gilmour, respectively…albeit with a little bit of Black Angels on top due to a distorted six-string solo that soars through the bridge.
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