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Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hoods fourth solo album and first in over 12 years, Exploding Trees s career, many of which provided him with distraction and creative sustenance during lockdown, others which have resided among his notebooks for years. Songs like The Van Pelt Parties (featuring members of my favorite new band, Wednesday) and At Safe Distance are fueled by finely drawn character studies and Hoods well-honed gift for clear-eyed self-examination, looking at crucial memories and life experiences to process the moments that saw him coalesce into his adult self.This record has all these kinds of unintended themes, Hood says. Its all subconscious, because I didnt really set out with an agenda, writing-wise. It really just kind of occurred to me when I was actually putting it all together, just how much it seems to have a theme to it.The dozen years since his last extracurricular outing, 2012s Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance, had seen Hood accumulate a cache of material which did not quite fit into the Drive-By Truckers canon, songs which he set aside for if and when he got around to another solo project. Kept off the road during the 2020 lockdown, he found himself recording demos in his Portland, OR attic, without a clear plan but thinking maybe this might be worth pursuing at some point.Hood had moved to Portland with his family in 2013 and swiftly found a place among the Rose Citys thriving music scene, including a friendship forged with producer/musician Chris Funk (The Decemberists). Having long discussed collaborating, in 2023 the two artists typically stacked calendars finally allowed them the opportunity to team up and they set to work recording what Hood intended to be a bigger departure from Drive-By Truckers and his previous solo efforts than ever before.The band has been in such a good place that I hadnt really thought in terms of doing anything outside of the Truckers anytime soon, Hood says. I decided if I ever was going to do another solo record, I wanted it to be pretty different than the band, as different as it can be.
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