Sawyer Hill Is Charting a New Era of Rock With "High On My Lows"
Rare is the artist, sharpening their craft and tools in an Arkansas garage, who wants their music to stab your senses, make you paralytic in feeling, to compose songs that land like a “knife in the gut.” Add that to a list of rare qualities that Sawyer Hill comfortably wields: a youthful veteran of live shows, a purveyor of beautiful compositions, a venerable talent in lyrical storytelling. Raised in the rural world of guitar bands with friends, a week of rehearsals before popping off at the local watering hole, Hil is an artist who fills the archetype of a guitar throwback but also defies it. Keenly aware of music history, Hillis isn’t here for easy press hyperbolies, and while he does have an impressively handsome rock star look, he is not the next Eddie Vedder.
What he is, without restraint, is an immersive songwriter, and “High On My Lows” is a single that so poetically encapsulates that feeling that it's as if you are hanging off the artist himself while scooting around on a debaucherous adventure, living the chorus itself, teeth gritted and eyes wide. The sharp effect of the lyrics is bolstered by the rhythmic tonality of the song, a little off-kilter, muffled, and imparting a sense of the world fogging up. Aided by the venerable Chris Greatti, the song pummels and pricks in all the right places, drums and guitars crossing into revelry, crescendoing then like a night dulling, slowed into an acoustic outdo.
For an artist unafraid to admit, “I wanna write great songs,” and sharing the mantra that great songs “tell the truth” what is even more remarkable is how disarmingly honest and approachable his music is—not a heavy lift of judgment or pretense, just an armory of good vibes anyone can grab onto. The trope of artists on the edge aside, Hill is poised to be one of this generation's greats, and if you are low and need a lift of capable songwriting to bring your next days high, this author has the sonic stitches to bring you back to life.
Watch the "High On My Lows" video below:
